


Crazy

by Kireon



Category: Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-09
Updated: 2013-03-09
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:44:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kireon/pseuds/Kireon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touko was used to being the peace-keeper, the protector and champion for the underdogs in the world. An encounter with the mysterious N shakes the foundation of her world, and leaves her wondering just how much her life is about to change in the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "Crazy" takes place at the same time as "Uninvited", at some points in the fic, Touko and N's views/events diverge, and thus the reason behind two fics rather than one. ~ Kira

"...the hell was  _his_  problem?" Cheren asked, huffing angrily at the retreating back of the strange older boy. Shoving the red rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose, he frowned at the expression on his childhood friend's face. "...Tou?" He asked carefully, remembering the last time he'd seen such an intense, focused and distant look on the pretty brunette's face and not liking what it implied.  _That guy's nothing but trouble. She knows it and she's already thinking about how to either fix him, or... I don't know._  He didn't know what that guy's damage was, or what he had planned... but one thing Cheren  _did_  know?

There was no way in hell he was going to let that guy anywhere  _near_  Bel or Touko, not if he could help it.

A moment later, she blinked and smiled again. The shadows in her eyes and face magically vanishing as if they were never there. "Huh? Oh, yeah.  _No_  clue what's up with that guy... N, right? He did say his name was N, right, Cheren?" Her voice was chipper,  _too_  chipper and her body language didn't exactly go back to normal either, still on guard as it had been the moment that her eyes had met that stranger's. Touko listened idly to her friend's rant on how lunatics should be locked up for their own safety as she gathered her own thoughts about this mysterious 'N' person.

He had that kind of presence that you couldn't help but be drawn to. The young brunette decided after a moment. A special 'something' that all fairytale heroes and even villains had that made them standout from normal people, that made them positively  _shine_. The stuff that a lot of girls wished for when they thought of a handsome knight in shining armor charging forward on the legendary Reshirom, the Hero of Unova coming to collect and whisk them away like a princess...

Touko was a little  _too_  old for princess fantasies, thank you very much.

It wasn't... it wasn't that he was remarkable looking that put her on guard, she'd be totally honest about that one; the boy was  _fine_  looking. His parents had been totally generous in the hot looks department, they had to have been supermodels or something equally as awesome. He was ridiculously tall too, maybe his father was an athelete of some sort?  _Maybe a Pokethlon star, that'd be totally awesome and would explain it. I mean,_ I'm _kinda tall for a girl, and my forehead_ barely _reaches over his shoulders!_

And... it wasn't that he was weird and kind awkward, like he knew he didn't fit into the crowd but was trying to anyways or the formal, almost brokenly rushed manner of speaking, the way he would look fearlessly into her eyes one moment and suddenly refuse to look away from the cube he was fiddling with on its chain the next... there were just too many signs for her to ignore.

Too many signs of someone  _not quite right_.

It was the  _way_  he'd looked at her before that, when their eyes had first met in the crowd. The intense surprise that had turned into an almost chillingly calculating look,  _that_  was what bothered her the most.

_Get a grip, 'ko, it's not like this is the first guy you've seen with a probably messed up family life that's made him weirder than hell._  She could use Bel as an example for that one, a repressed mother who quietly, subtly encouraged her daughter's independence and defied the wishes of her control-freak, overprotective father... no wonder the blonde tended to flinch and jump at shadows at times.

As for Cheren, she watched as he muttered to himself, rummaging through his bag to find something he'd apparently meant to give her. Her brow furrowed a little as he searched through another compartment in his backpack.

Well... Cheren was Cheren, and she had no choice but to love her often cranky friend, even if she wondered what it was he was trying to prove so hard that it had his temper on a damn short leash most of the time.

_Boys, never gonna understand 'em._ Touko thought to herself, a grin on her face at the thought as she and Cheren headed north toward Route 2. She was looking forward to catching some more Pokemon to build her team, even if she wasn't quite sure what kind of strategy or 'ideal' Pokemon she wanted yet. Hopefully Bel would catch up to them soon, she was missing the squabbling between the two like she didn't think she ever would.

"...hey, Touko?"

"What's up?" She looked up from her town map, noticing the oddly tense look on her friend's face, frowning at him in concern. "You okay?" Cheren pointed at the grass behind her, causing the leggy brunette to turn around and follow his finger to a pair of glowing eyes in the shadows.

"You wanna take it or should I?" He asked cautiously, watching as the slender, green eyed feline slowly stalked towards them. His expression was calculating as he aimed his Pokedex out of it, getting the information ahead of time and comparing it with the team he current had to see how it would fit in.

_...hey, waitasec..._  Touko's eyes narrowed slightly as she stepped forward, watching the slow, slinking movements of the purple furred cat as it came closer and closer. "...Cheren, that's  _N's_  Purrloin, remember? I fought it not even three hours ago." Confusion mixed with concern flickered across her face. That guy, weird as he was, didn't  _seem_  like the type who'd just out and out ditch a Pokemon, he even called them his friends.

...but why abandon a friend like this?

The black haired boy did not look pleased at the sound of the weirdo's name coming out of her mouth, frowning harder at the cat Pokemon as it approached. His hand went for Tepig's pokeball. "Looks like he ditched it," Echoing her own thoughts aloud, Cheren prepared himself for a potential battle. There was heavy disapproval in the teenager's voice as he edged closer to her side. "Want me to take care of it?"

Green eyes met clear blue and held, Touko staring down the headstrong feline for a long, long time before she finally responded.  _Poor guy, you're looking for N, aren't you? You want your friend back._  "No," She shook her head, reaching for Snivy's ball at her and glancing to him with a grim look on her face. "Call me crazy, but... I have a feeling this guy's fate and mine are connected somehow."

_Somehow, meaning that our lives just got totally turned upside down by the appearance of one very weird, very troubled teenager named N._  The blue eyed girl thought to herself, adjusting the brim on her hat and spreading her legs shoulder width apart to ground herself. "Alright, Purrloin, I accept. Let's do this, Snivy!"


	2. Chapter 2

Things were going well, Touko thought happily to herself as she stretched her arms towards the sunny, unusually warm sky with a happy sound slipping from her lips. Her mother, and probably Professor Juniper as well, had been less than surprised with her decision to choose Snivy as her starter.  _Probably because we both love the sunshine and warm weather._  She thought with a grin, looking down at the stuffy looking snake Pokemon she'd let out to enjoy the warm weather along with her.

"You did so good, I'm totally proud of you." She praised him again, unable to help herself and giggled in delight when the brown eyes closed in pleasure, the little serpent's back straightening just a little and the walk becoming more of a strut at the praise. "Chili didn't even see what hit him, and that Panpour came in handy too, I hope he's happy back with his trainer."

Said trainer had offered to allow her to keep the aquatic ape, but one look and a gut feeling told her that, while he'd had a lot of fun with her... he'd be happier with his original owner. And she'd told him as much too, surprising the older trainer but getting a shy, 'Thanks.' in response.

"Such a blue sky," The long haired girl murmured admiringly, staring up at the pure expanse above her and letting the slight breeze brush against her. "I remember how it totally sucked being all cooped up during class, glad I have an excuse  _not_  to be there." Not for a little while, anyways. As long as she passed the quizzes and tests sent to her by email, she'd be allowed to take time out of her normal school schedule without it proving detrimental to graduating.

...she wondered how Bel was going to do, the girl would probably need her or Cheren to remind her of all the tests, maybe even do a study group if they could meet up in a Pokemon Center somewhere to give the girl a little extra help. Cheren, as always, worked his ass off and wound up with straight As every term. She _..._ didn't work _that_  hard, though her mother would probably celebrate if she did, and managed to come away with a solid B average when it came to grades.

Bel tended to get test anxiety and overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed, either failing or getting a C- in the majority of her subjects if she or Cheren weren't there to support her. Personally, Touko thought the girl was a  _lot_  smarter than she gave herself credit for and just needed to quit worrying about what that asshole of a father thought and said.

An inquiring noise from her shoulder caught her attention, startling her as she blinked, staring into the mildly concerned, curious face of her first Pokemon who'd managed to climb on her without disturbing her thought. "Holy- wow, you're a little ninja, aren't you?" She asked, unintentionally impressed by the serpent's stealthy movements as she gently scratched the scales above his eyes. "I'm okay, I just don't like Bel's dad very much, that's all. He's not very nice."

Total understatement but, she never quite knew how much a Pokemon could pick up. There  _was_  that one rumor that someone's Pokemon had started repeating phrases it heard frequently... and what she called Bel's dad was  _not_  something she wanted repeated. Snivy gave her a sidelong look, as if suspecting he knew what she  _wasn't_  saying and made a note that was rather agreeable sounding as he arched his neck, encouraging her hand to scratch further down.

"Y'know, I don't think I ever asked the Professor if you shed like normal snakes do," Touko informed her partner as she continued walking west, glancing over at the patches of grass occasionally while she was there. She'd fought at the Gym two nights ago, winning her first badge and was on her way for the second one after a day of rest for both of them and a day of just general exploring the area around Striaton City. In that time, she'd not only helped Snivy get stronger, but the Purrloin N had left behind had also chosen to come with her after being defeated in battle a second time.  _Poor guy's always looking for that N guy, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when I see him next. It's a jackass move to just leave them there._

So she was a  _little_  worked up about that, just a little. Touko puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, knowing full well it made her look like a Patrat but didn't care anyways. It  _hurt_ seeing how unhappy the feline had been after being caught, poor thing didn't even  _want_  to come out of the Pokeball most of the time now, always looking at her for reassurance... making sure she wasn't going to just suddenly disappear on him again.

"We're gonna get 'im, aren't we?" She said, raising a fist and pumping it into the air as she felt anger heat her blood. Her mother always said she'd inherited the temper of both parents, something she wasn't really sure she wanted to think about, due to the circumstances her mother was still pretty close lipped about surrounding the divorce back when she was five. Snivy hissed in agreement, straightening up as if he were pumping his own tiny fist into the air as well.

It felt good to have someone understand her even if they couldn't exactly talk back, though sometimes she had the odd feeling if  _she_  just tried a little harder, did...  _something_ , she didn't know what, differently, she could understand them the way they seemed to understand her. She sent a sideways look to her friend, adjusting her baseball cap and grinned. "Hey, you wanna go for a run? I think Amalthea would be okay carrying you, if you don't mind."

Snivy shook his head, he clearly didn't mind and seemed amused at the idea that she was going to race against the Blitzle they'd added to their team less than a day ago.

Happy that she was going to finally get some  _real_  exercise, Touko's hand sought and immediately found which Pokeball she kept the zebra-like Pokemon in, tossing it into the air as the beam of light released the small equine pokemon. With a short bark, the small black and white Pokemon reared up on hind legs and lashed the sky with her hooves, mane flashing all the while. Her blue eyes glanced about, landing on the area close to where she'd been originally caught at and moved back to her Trainer out of curiosity.

"Hey pretty girl," She cooed softly, watching Amalthea's body language carefully to make sure the Pokemon wasn't going to act frightened or aggressive, especially since she'd really only worked with her for a few hours total. Her ears were erect and the Pokemon's eyes were directly on her, seemingly waiting for her to give a command of some sort. Good sign, meant she was friendly or in a good mood at the moment, hopefully it'd last. "It's a gorgeous day out, wanna come for a run with me and Snivy? He needs a partner, d'you mind?"

At the mention of a run, the small equid tossed her head, eyes rolling in excitement as she pranced in place. Snivy leaped smartly from his trainer's shoulder and on to the striped Pokemon's back, carefully entwining a couple of vines to hold himself in place and seemed to chatter a moment with his 'partner', as if discussing something important. "You guys ready?" Touko asked with a laugh, finishing up her warm ups with eyes that shone with eager energy. She'd heard that Blitzle weren't ridiculously fast, but they had major endurance when it came to speed and she was looking forward to seeing that for herself as a former track team member.

Standing beside her, the Blitzle pawed at the road with one hoof, bobbing her head impatiently as Touko took her position as well, muscles beneath the short coat shuddering and rippling with excitement. "Ready... get set..."

Both of them tensed up, Touko's foot arched as if pressed against a starting block, a look of intense concentration on her face as the two of them waited for something. A grin slipped on to the young woman's face as she nodded once. " _Go_!"

"Ugh, I don't know how you do it, Touko." Cheren complained as he recalled the dazed Tepig back into its Pokeball, shoving his glasses back up the bridge of his nose afterwards. "I study like crazy and I  _know_  you; but I still can't win." Their health was back up, he'd made sure to invest in berries and some other much needed healing supplies when he'd dropped by the Pokemart.

She gave him one of her dazzling smiles, the one that usually made guys  _really_  uncomfortable when it was directed at them and she was as flushed and excited as she was right now. He shifted a little himself, scowling at her to keep himself in check and not be like one of the goons who tried asking her out and prancing around like a bunch of idiots to impress her. "Just got lucky, I guess. You'll get me next time, I'm sure." She chirped happily, giving him a wink that had his cheeks heating up.

Stupid girls.

Two figures barreled past them at high speed, something that sounded like metal links clinking together passing in their wake. Touko's eyes narrowed, the look on her face not one that Cheren was fond of back again.  _Crap. Speaking of goons._ He thought to himself in dismay, turning to see one of the little kids from that daycare running up with...

"Oh  _no_ ," the dark haired boy groaned out loud as Bel came up, her hands protectively on the tear-streaked girl's shoulders. "Bel, what happened?" Just when he was getting ready to pick Tou's brain too, this kind of crap  _always_  seemed to happen to him. How was he supposed to learn how to defeat her when the whole world conspired against him?

 _Especially_  Bel.

It was like the girl has a sixth sense regarding the three of them; if it was only he and Touko, she'd be there in five minutes, guaranteed. ...but it also worked the other way around; she and Touko were never together for very long before Bel immediately sought him out and the three of them were together again.

"It's terrible, those guys just, like,  _stole_  this little girl's Pokemon. It's a total outrage, we have to do something about it, Cheren!" Her green eyes were snapping with anger, also welling up with sympathy tears for the little girl crying next to her. She was going to make a great mother one day, he thought to himself, though she was going to need a husband good enough to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't fall and hurt herself, or made her get there on time or a lot of other things.

...he would have to make sure this guy was good enough for her, Bel was way too trusting for her own damn good sometimes and he did  _not_  want her in the same situation her mother was.

"It's okay, sweetie," Touko said softly, kneeling next to the little girl with a kind look in her blue eyes and a gentle, soothing voice that she'd used more than once even back when _they_  were all kids. "Big brother Cheren and Big Sis are gonna go get him back for you, okay? So you gotta wait for us with a smile, or he'll be really scared when he gets back." Another smile, this one less big sisterly and more reassuring and energetic, trying to get the girl to perk up a little. "Can you give me a big smile?"

"'k-kay... will you really bring 'im back?" The little girl asked, big eyes slightly puffy already from all the crying as she wiped her snotty nose on her sleeve. Bel fretted, pulling a few tissues out of her purse and held them to the little girl's nose. "Now now," Bel told the child briskly, filled with nervous energy and agitation. "Touko and Cheren  _never_  break a promise, they're good guys, like super heroes! They'll, like, totally kick butt and get your friend back."

The child looked up at Bel, eyes already beginning to well up again and her lower lip trembled. "W-Will I be by myself while you g-go get him back?"

Cheren and Touko watched, silently counting down the time that it took for Bel's defenses to fall and shook their heads, trying to hide a smile when the curvy blonde threw her arms around the little girl and hugged her tight. "Never! I'm gonna stay here and protect you in case those big meanies come back." She looked over at her two friends, pleading silently with them not to get mad at her for staying behind this one time.

Touko, as always, smiled at her and readjusted her hat, getting into business mode. "That's right, we're gonna leave the strongest member of our superhero team with you, is that okay? Big Sis Bel will kick anyone's butt who even comes near you and wants to get mean." She grabbed Cheren's arm and began hauling him off with a wave. "We'll be back soon, keep an eye on Big Sis for us, okay?"

Cheren stumbled, managing to finally keep his balance as he was dragged along by the headstrong brunette. "...and just  _who_  is the strongest member of this 'superhero' team?" He asked, an annoyed, disbelieving note in his voice as he watched her expression darken with anger.

"When it comes to kids and being comforting,  _she's_  the best and you know that, Cheren." She gave him a look over her shoulder. "And I  _really_  didn't want wind up in another squabble if I sent you two together while I stayed behind."

He frowned at her, not liking the tone in her voice or the implication that he and Bel would fight. "Who says we'd squabble? Isn't that a little presumptuous of you?" Cheren couldn't help it, the way she looked at him combined with  _that_  tone made him more than a little defensive. "And why didn't you just ask me to stay with the kid? I could have done that."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, something she only did when someone or something was really getting on her nerves. "Going off of experience, for one,  _that's_  how I know you'd end up fighting. And for the other? Come on, Cheren. You can't even really handle your little sister, Bel and I'd have to come rescue you and play with her while you studied."

He opened his mouth to argue that one, insulted by the implication that there was something he couldn't handle,  _much_  less something as ridiculous as just babysitting his baby sister and Touko interrupted him, raising a hand and pointing to the cave. "They're in there, you good to go?" With a nod, and a promise he was gonna argue with her later, Cheren resigned himself to focusing on something else for a little while and narrowed his eyes at the cave. "Let's go, I've got your back."

Touko paused before entering the cave, shooting him a brilliant smile that nearly killed his resolve to be mad at her. "I know you do, I'll never question  _that_."


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell is  _with_  these guys?" Touko exploded after the two armor wearing members of Team Plasma bolted, her hands clenched into fists at her side and her eyes blazing in fury. Cheren'd been prepared to physically pull her back before she'd do something foolish and haul off to punch one of them in the face.

She'd done it before in school, he wasn't even going to get into what pushed her into doing  _that_ , but the three of them had gotten suspended for three days as a result and spent the time, well, trying  _not_  to piss their parents off any more than they had. Bel's father had actually thanked Touko when her mother hadn't been around, expressing his appreciation for doing "whatever was necessary" to keep his daughter safe.

Come to think of it, that was probably when the man had started giving  _him_  the stink eye and spoke to him gruffly, as if he weren't worth the effort to even talk to.

Better make sure she wasn't chasing them down, she'd done that too on a number of occasions. "Tou, just let it go. We got the Pokemon back, it's probably scared to death and you going into vengence mode is  _not_  gonna help anything. You're not the great Liepardess or anything like that."

She shot him a dirty look, clearly unamused by being compared to the purple and yellow wearing super-heroine loved by a lot of guys because of the revealing outfit and the femme fatale personality said super-heroine tended to give off.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, you're  _not_." Cheren pointed out. "Even if your  _do_  have legs that're better than hers."  _...shit, I shouldn't have said that. Now she'll know I'm checking her out._

"You have a point there, my legs  _do_  kick ass." His childhood friend said after a long moment's thought, pissy expression changing back into a more... Touko-ish one. He was also thanking whatever creator people tended to believe in that she seemed to be having one of Bel's ditzy moments. "C'mon, race you back!"

...then again, maybe she  _had_  noticed it and telling him to race her was her sadistic way of punishing him, Cheren thought as he gasped for breath, hands resting on his knees as sweat dripped from his forehead and spotted the dirt road beneath him. Watching Bel, Touko and that little kid rejoice in celebration of a job well done, he couldn't help but smile at them. Those were  _his_  friends, absurd, frustrating and sometimes stupid though the girls were... they were  _his_  to pick on and his to insult. No one else could do it without meeting him on the battlefield.

 _I have to become the Champion; only then will I have the power and the strength I need to protect them._  He thought to himself, steeling his resolve to achieve that goal no matter what. Bel would always, always  _need_  a protector, someone to keep her out of trouble and be the voice of reason. That'd been his job from the start really, and he did his job rather well... even if she didn't like him very much for it most of the time.

"I'm going on ahead," The dark haired teenage finally said, breaking up the giggling girls with his words as Bel and Touko exchanged a look and nodded at him. "Catch up with me," He smirked confidently at the two of them, knowing it would annoy them and wanting to do just that so they would chase after him. " _If_  you can, that is. I may just have to wait for you at the Pokemon League as the Champion at the rate you two'll go."

Stupid Cheren, Touko thought and made a face as she kicked a pebble down the road. He didn't have to tell her she was being slow, she knew she was. But that was what an adventure was all about; taking your time, enjoying the sights and experiencing  _everything_. Not rushing through it like it was a stupid test you'd studied an hour for and got every problem right on! Purrloin chased after the pebble, with Luka, her recently caught Lillipup, chasing after the purple feline with a growling yap expressing her excitement.

"Hey you two, be careful!" She called out to the two playing stalk, pounce and chase along the edge of the road. Amalthea and Snivy agreed with her, shaking their respective heads in disapproval at the two being so wild in front of their trainer. Touko hid a smile at the mildly condescending attitudes of the Blitzle and Snivy, knowing full well they were doing it on purpose to try and seem like  _they_  weren't wanting to go play just like that too.

 _At least he's in a better mood now, it's good to see the poor guy having some fun instead of being all sad and dejected._  She thought to herself, watching as the cat began preparing itself for an actual attack against the small puppy Pokemon. "Hey now, none of that. No battles unless we're in a non-public area and we totally need to train against each other." Touko informed the pair sternly. Cat and dog or not; she wasn't going to tolerate inter-team fighting on such a nice day.

It  _was_  some improvement though, it seems like frequent attention and reassurance from herself  _and_  from the other Pokemon who traveled with her was taking affect on the Purrloin's nerves, soothing them and allowing it to grow attached to her without fear of abandonment. Heck, the feline'd come right up to her after the battle with Team Plasma and had jumped right into her arms, surprising her with a headbutt to the chin and a purr that had vibrated the cat's whole body.

 _Totally_  worth all the worry, she wasn't gonna lie about that.

A sharp yowl made her jump, looking up just in time to see the panic on Luka's face as Purrloin scrabbled for purchase on a bit of ground that was apparently weaker than the rest of the ledge's surface. "Oh shit," She swore and raced forward, Amalthea and Snivy startled and raced to catch up with her as well. "Hold on, Purrloin!"

Luka lunged forward, managing to catch Purrloin by the nape of the neck as the cat tried to scramble backwards away from the falling cliff face. The combined weight of the two sending Lillipup's part of the ledge crumbling as well, sinking and sliding towards the rest of it as the puppy Pokemon whined in fright. Just as the ground went out from beneath both of them, a strong hand gripped the scruff of the pup's neck and pulled back sharply. Hitting her chest, Purrloin screeched and dug her claws into the Trainer's shoulder and arm in panic even as Luka scratched, trying to scrabble for purchase on the trainer's body.

Her foot too far over the edge, the young brunette swore again, her heart pounding as she looked at the ten foot drop and tried to figure out how to land with two pokemon that _wouldn't_  at least end with them moderately hurt in some way or another.  _Maybe if I fall with my back towards the ground... no, shit, there's rocks jutting out of the dirt down there. If I hit wrong..._  She shuddered, imagining her journey cut tragically short by an unfortunate accident that'd left her paralyzed, all from landing on a stupid rock.

But if it was between  _her_  and her Pokemon getting hurt...

Something strong gripped her vest and tried pulling back, causing her to yelp, same with the vines that suddenly wrapped around a black and white figure that'd started going over with the rest of them once her balance had been thrown off. Ten feet was enough to break the little equid's leg; and she would  _not_  let that happen; she wouldn't have to watch as they gave the final shot to a Pokemon who hadn't even gotten the chance to live her full, happy life yet.

"Amalthea,  _return_!" She managed to hit the right button on her belt, the red light causing the zebra to vanish back into her ball... and without the extra weight helping Snivy anchor them in place, Touko swore viciously as she twisted, Snivy joining the rest of them with panic on his face.  _Have to think of something, have to think of something, have to think of something, have to think of-_  "Snivy, use Leaf Tornado!"

The green whirlwind whipped up by the Grass types tail was pretty damn impressive, she had to admit that much as she felt the force of the wind tugging at the pokemon she held tightly in her arms- Snivy included himself- and watched the small pokemon aim it at the ground beneath her as they finally began the fall itself.

 _Please, please let me hit first, don't let them get hurt._  Touko prayed as she curled her body around the pokemon as protectively as she could. "It'll be okay guys, it'll be okay." She tried to soothe them, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing, just for a moment, that there  _was_  an actual hero on a legendary Pokemon who'd be in the area and could protect them from something this stupid... and this scary.  _Ten feet shouldn't feel like forever when you're falling._

 _I have to keep moving. They're hurt and scared and they were crying, They wouldn't stop crying out, God, I hope it's not really serious._  She thought wildly as she ran the rest of the way to the Nacrene City. Her back and butt hurt, she might have pulled something or bruised it when she landed, and she was  _still_ winded from impact. She hadn't hit any rocks that she'd been aware of, but she'd skidded and almost rolled once she'd hit the ground.

She didn't see the tall, slim and green haired form standing idly about on the corner as she pounded past, feet beating a panicked tattoo against the pavement as her eyes caught sight of the familiar red roof serving as a beacon for those who were looking for help. Didn't notice the shock on his face as he recognized her or she might have stopped to do a doubletake and yell at him for Purrloin's heartbreak.

The doors opened immediately and with her hair a complete mess, baseball cap dirty and askew on her head, the young woman raced to the counter, out of breath and panicked as she met the startled and immediately concerned eyes of the nurse. "Please, help. They're crying, they're crying and I just, I don't know, they won't stop. Something's wrong, something's really wrong. We fell and, I tried to protect them and I might have, I might have hurt them and I just, I can't see where they hurt, they won't tell me or can't and I just-" She was babbling and she knew it. But these were  _her_  Pokemon, they were her friends and they'd trusted her to keep them safe, to make sure they stayed healthy and strong in their adventures.

And she might have just caused them major injury by holding on to them.  _I'm so stupid, why didn't I try to get them all back into their pokeballs? I might've gotten Purrloin and Luka back in like I did with Amalthea... and then Snivy could have used Leaf Tornado to push himself back to the cliff edge far enough it wouldn't break. He's smart like that._  She was an idiot, a total and complete idiot, too concerned with trying to pull them back up herself instead of calling them back into their pokeballs like a smart trainer would have in that kind of situation.

"Touko, we'll see them now, here... I'll take them, you have a seat." The nurse said kindly, taking away her precious friends and hurrying into the back, already calling out orders as the teenager watched forlornly, desperation in her eyes as her legs started to give out from beneath her, dropping her into the nearest seat as she cradled her head in her hands for a moment.  _Don't cry._

She didn't deserve to cry, not yet anyways.

It seemed like hours,  _years_  later when the nurse who'd seen her came marching out, an unhappy look on her face as she spotted where she'd sat and came over.  _Oh man, I've screwed up big this time. It's bad, I nearly killed them, didn't I?_  Her eyes welled up against her will and she bit her lip with a fierceness that hurt enough that it made her wonder if she hadn't just bitten through.

"Honestly, what would your mother say if she saw you like this?" Nurse Joy demanded, her hands on her hips at first before one moved off and aimed itself at her, a lecturing finger shaking itself in the girl's direction. "They're all completely fine, though they're wanting nothing more than to come out and see you, as  _you_  are the one they're worried about."

Her eyes widened, stunned into silence as she opened her mouth, unable to find the words, closed and opened again. "W-What? W-What do you mean? They were acting like something was really, really  _wrong_. They're not hurt? I mean, Purrloin was about to go over one of the ledges and then Luka went after him and started g-going over," That startled yowl, it was  _still_  ringing in her ears along with the pitiful, scared whine from her poor Lillipup too. Her vision blurred as the rest of it came pouring out, Touko fighting back the tears that wanted so badly to be shed. "I tried to g-grab both of them and then  _I_  started going over before Amath-thea tried to grab the back of my vest and lose  _her_  balance."

 _I'm such a stupid, useless trainer. How the hell am I supposed to be the good guy when I get my pokemon into trouble?_  She sniffled, trying still to hold back the tears as small, damp spots appeared on her dirty knees. Stupid tears, Touko thought to herself angrily, glaring at the droplets like they were the enemy. "And then Snivy tried coming out to help and  _he_ wasn't feeling good already after that battle with Cheren," Oh man, Cheren would  _kill_  her if he saw her right now, and she'd just finished lecturing him on being unable to handle something as simple as babysitting... and she'd just nearly gotten herself killed and her pokemon hurt! "I made him use Leaf Tornado to try and lessen the impact, I don't know if it worked or anything, but I had to try  _something_  to save them."

Did the nurse hate her? Was she getting a report filed on her for negligence and endangerment? Her mother was going to be  _so_  disappointed in her that it wasn't even remotely funny.

Nurse Joy shook her head again. "You're definitely old enough now that I shouldn't have to lecture you like this," She chided the rather young, miserable looking girl in front of her. Her poor Pokemon were terrified that something'd happened to their Trainer and thought  _she_  was injured, according to what her Audino had reported, yet this girl had been so concerned that  _she'd_  caused the Pokemon damage that she'd immediately recalled them and headed right for the center at top speed. "It's because  _you_  were hurt that they were acting strangely; we don't have Potions for humans, you know. We're a lot weaker than our Pokemon, it's why they protect us in ways we can't protect them."

She was going to send that same Audino into the girl's room if they had a room available for her, something told her the girl needed a nice hot shower, a good meal and the comfort of a bed for the night that she could share with the Pokemon who'd fit there.  _Hard lessons learned on the road are the ones that stick with you for life and change you for the better, that's what we seem to see a lot of._  The pink haired woman thought to herself with yet another shake of her head.

Another nurse came rushing out, all smiles and happy energy as she carried the girl's pokeballs in much the same way the girl herself had when she'd come rushing in. "All done, I was expecting the worst when you came running in here all panicked and on the verge of tears, but they just needed an Oran berry and they were just fine." She beamed at her superior and bowed, returning her attention to the girl and then back to the leader of the nurses, an expectant look on her face that annoyed the older woman. With a long suffering, impatient sigh and a hard to conceal smile on her face, Nurse Joy watched the girl look up with shoulders hunched around her ears and messy, grass embedded hair falling all over the place. "You should probably let them see you're okay," She paused a moment as she watched Audino already head upstairs.  _...was she listening to_ my _heart and feelings again? That's not the first time Audrey's done something like that without being told first._ "It does say a lot, however, that your first thought was to come here for them instead of thinking about yourself. Good job, Miss Touko. I wish we had more trainers like you."

Touko looked stricken by the compliment, unable to believe what she was really hearing from someone older than her, and probably much more experienced. Smiling fully now, the woman tilted her head a bit. "Wait here, I'll see if there's a shower and room available for you while I get some bandages and some antibacterial ointment for you. Those scrapes need to be taken care of before they get infected, you know." She turned around to head upstairs, sending the second nurse back to her station with a noticable bounce in her step and shook her head. Kids these days, nice to see not everyone was on a quest for power or something equally stupid like fame.

Touko bit her lip again, chewing on it a moment before releasing all of the pokemon from their balls one by one. The red lights formed their outlines first, solidifying into the familiar forms she hadn't spent more than four or five days with, but had come to love almost, if not as much, as she'd come to love Cheren and Bel from their ten years of friendship. "...sorry guys," She said finally, a weak, trembling smile on her face as she stared at the concerned, worried and anxious faces of her team. Her eyes filled once more,  _man_ , she was getting as bad as Bel did when it came to being a crybaby. "I kinda blew it, didn't I? You guys did awesome against Cheren, totally kicked his butt... and I let you down."

Purrloin was the first to respond, leaping up into her lap, much to her surprise, and reached up with one paw, his sickle shaped tail lashing agitatedly in the air. Pressing it gentle against her cheek, Touko looked surprised, then shocked and stiffened when the purple feline unsheathed his claws, the tips pressing precariously against her cheek just light enough she knew they were there, but firm enough that if she moved, she'd get scratched in a way that was gonna  _hurt_.

"...I'm being stupid, is that what you're telling me?" She whispered to the green eyed cat staring deep into her eyes, the haughty expression usually on its face heavily tempered with disapproval and concern. "Rrrt." He rumbled in response, a growling kind of purr of annoyance that only came out on occasion. Snivy, Amalthea and Luka crowded closer as she finally reached up and stroked the soft, violet and cream fur, scratching the broad ears of the cat in apology. "It's okay guys, I'm okay." Touko repeated over and over again, ducking her head a little as the tears finally broke loose, silently falling down her cheeks to spot the fur of the feline as Lillipup tried to jump up and lick them from her face, whimpering all the while in an attempt to comfort her.

"I'm okay now, we're gonna rest for today, see how we all feel tomorrow when we wake up, alright?" She asked them, reaching out and scratching an ear here, stroking a soft muzzle there and returning an affectionate caress that was given to her. Closing her eyes a moment, a little overwhelmed by the sheer love and outpour of concern in the eyes of friends and teammates, Touko thought she could almost hear them say that it was a good idea in their own little ways. Thought that she might have heard one of them even say a bath was probably a good idea and food would be  _really_  good.

"We'll get you guys fed and," She wrinkled her nose comically. " _I'll_  take a bath, I totally need one after all that. And then I'll brush you guys as well, make sure you're all stylish before we go to bed tonight, sound good?"

Purrloin glanced away from the commotion caused by his trainer acknowledging she was foolish, relatively uninjured, but foolish all the same to watch N slip away from the strangely colorful paper holding rack and head for the door. Green eyes turned sad again, a small, barely audible meow slipping out as he too, resisted the urge to bolt forward and chase the retreating figure.  _My first friend._  He thought at the trainer's departing back.  _Thank you._ The feline  _knew_  that young man could hear him, knew he  _would_  hear his words and understand what he was saying.

This wouldn't be the last time he would see his very first friend, the one that made him think some humans were good, instead of the ones he'd hated on sight because of the things _he'd_  seen. Not when he'd heard N's heart too, when he'd first battled  _this_  friend, foolish and good natured though she was. He was interested in this girl for one reason or another, and as a result, that meant there would be other opportunities to see him again. He was a cat; he could be patient, until the time came when they could meet again.

...even if it meant being on the other side of the battlefield, this time.


	4. Chapter 4

The curative powers of a long, hot shower were nothing short of miraculous.

Touko had indulged herself probably a little more than was necessary, making sure every inch of her was scrubbed clean and thoroughly soaped and rinsed off. What she hadn't expected, however, was for her Pokemon to suddenly join her in the extremely large bathroom. In retrospect, she realized it'd been build the way it was for that exact reason; to bathe Pokemon as well as people.

Suds, bubbles and laughter echoed out into the living room of the small hotel-like room as Touko made sure to clean and groom each and every single one of her Pokemon until they looked, and smelled, quite a bit better than they all had earlier that day. It was while she was carefully blow drying Purrloin's velvety fur that the young woman noticed something disturbing about the purring feline. The dryer was switched off in an instant, the cat opening one emerald hued eye at the lack of warm air on his person and regarded the trainer holding him on her lap with a look that suggested she best do whatever it was she needed to do and get back to drying him as quickly as possible.

He was  _the_  prince among his kind, after all.

Whether it was to reassure him or herself was something she decided not to ask herself, the purring continuing under her gentle hand as she carefully moved her way down from his ears to his neck, where she thought she'd seen something as the heated air had hit and parted fur. Nimble fingers carefully searched- and found exactly what she'd been afraid of.

Smooth scar tissue.

Touko sucked in a sharp breath, allowing her fingers to inquire the length of the scars, feeling him tense slightly beneath her hands the closer her fingers approached the front of his throat- and relax as she scratched him shakily beneath his chin.  _What kind of bastard did this? w_ as her first thought, the second following immediately after happened to run along the lines of, 'And where do I find him so I can punch his lights out?'  _It must have been his last owner then. But wait a sec, that'd... that'd mean..._

N.

The long legged brunette stared down into the eyes of the still tensed up Pokemon as she tried to imagine someone like N doing something that would put those kinds of wounds on a Pokemon. His face popped up from their first encounter in her mind. The intensity of his sage green eyes that near-perfectly matched the color of his hair, the shadows over his face that lent him a more mysterious, otherworldly... and attractive appearance. As if the shadows from his baseball cap were physical form of the shadows she'd caught in his eyes for just a split second or two during that encounter. She closed her eyes, the time before their battle returning to her mind as she reflected over it, nearly obsessing over the finer details as the words he'd said came pouring back.

" _More! Let me hear the voice of your Pokemon!"_

"...no." She broke the silence, starling Purrloin on her lap. Her eyes opened as long lashes lowered, her gaze slightly unfocused and distant as her hands traveled back up to her Pokemon's ears. "He wouldn't do that. He's..."  _Not capable of harming Pokemon._  The realization hit her as more of a surprise as she checked her train of thought again. She nodded after a moment, refocusing her attention on the wary feline on her lap. "He's not capable of hurting you guys, right Purrloin?" She asked him with a smile, feeling him purr in response, the tension in his body slowly dwindling as he reacted to the energy and feel her body gave off.

Which meant that N had found him, and if any of that 'Pokemon Liberation' stuff was actually true?

"He saved your life." Blue eyes met green as a moment of silence passed between the two of them, Pokemon and Human silently weighing each other as the unspoken question hung between them, along with a delicate edge that neither one of them could put a name to. He finally mewed in response, a reluctant, sad sounding affirmation and seemed to shiver a little in her lap as she turned the dryer back on and restarted the grooming process.

Purrloin pretended not to notice that certain spots on his near-completely dry fur suddenly developed small wet spots and purred particularly loudly against her lap.

******

To keep her hair from being an unholy mess of frizz and tangles by the time morning came along, Touko spent the next ten minutes carefully making sure the braid her mother had taught her was done correctly and sighed after its completion, flexing her stiff fingers.  _Maybe I need to get a hair cut, or get it thinned out or_ something _; it's getting hard to maintain these days._  She thought to herself, playing with the end of her braid as her eyes drifted across the room.

Snivy was curled up on the pillow next to her own, the cute leaf on his tail covering his eyes as his tiny chest rose and fell. Poor little guy, he'd had a rough day, she thought to herself with a small, affectionate smile on her lips and turned her attention elsewhere. Amalthea was, as all members of the equid family had a tendency to do, was asleep on her feet, err, hooves. As for Luka, the adorable little puppy was curled up at the foot of the bed, paws twitching every so often as she probably chased Purrloin or some other cat around.

Speaking of the little cat, where'd he wander off to? She realized, looking around for the sleek purple member of her team. After she'd gotten done probably embarrassing and annoying him with her tears, she'd gone rifling through her bag, finding one of her silk hair ribbons she'd taken with her in case she'd get asked out on a date or have to go somewhere dressier than normal. Talking to him the entire while, she'd showed him what she'd wanted to do by tying it around her own neck at first, modeling it in a particularly exaggerated fashion that would have had Bel and Cheren mocking her relentlessly before offering it out to him.

In the end, he'd allowed her to tie it on, even examining himself in the mirror afterward to admire how it looked on him. She'd even put three fingers between his neck and the ribbon to show him it was easy to slip out of if he really wanted to. Touko smiled at the memory. Cats were _totally_ vain creatures, and he was by no means an exception to the rule. It was freaking cute though, and it showed that he truly trusted her on some deeper level she suspected wasn't something she could really comprehend.

An hour, and then two passed and she was worried. Deciding it'd be better to get it over with, she slipped out of bed quietly, trying not to disturb her sleeping Pokemon and walked out the door to poke her head out. Maybe he'd slipped out a window or something and was causing havoc like those of his breed had a tendency to.  _Last thing I need is for him to steal something and bring it back like a hunting trophy._

"Purrloin?" Touko called out, figuring he was probably lurking like some demented kitty ninja in the shadows somewhere. No response. He couldn't have gone  _that_  far, could he? She wondered as she stepped further out into the street, feeling like she was going to see people dressed like zombies or something start dancing.  _Totally not dressed for that either, ugh. I should have packed my cute pjs, at least I would have looked better._  Not that she  _had_  a pair of pajamas that were ridiculously girly or feminine really, she liked something that could be worn when she and Bel had sleepovers at Cheren's house during finals week.

 _That aside, where was that damn cat? "Purrloin!" She hissed out, glaring at nothing in particular as she squinted, trying to make out any feline-shaped form in the shadows._ "Seriously, are you gonna make me do this at two in the freakin' morning?" Stupid Dark types and their penchant for blending in all the time. He was  _purple_ , for crying out loud; she should be able to see that much! That cat was going to make her do that really stupid, 'here kitty, kitty' thing, wasn't he? "

For a minute, Touko wrestled with the idea that she'd just let him come back on his own. It was a fantastic idea- except it'd be irresponsible of her as a Trainer  _and_  as his friend. "I swear," The young woman muttered under her breath, steeling herself for the inevitable. "When I get my hands on you, you stupid, furry little pain in the-" Plus, she wouldn't be able to freaking sleep unless she knew he was safe. Especially after that whole sobfest she'd had over the scars around his throat.

Stupid cat.

"Can't  _believe_  I'm doing this," Since threats weren't working and the sadist of a Pokemon was probably just  _waiting_  for her to humiliate herself somehow, Touko took a deep breath, exhaled and finally managed to do what the cat was probably looking for to begin with in as sweet a voice as she could manage from between clenched teeth. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!"

 _Right_  on cue, there was a distinctive meow coming from somewhere ahead of her. Touko vowed again she was going to kill the damn cat for what he'd just made her do. "Purrloin? That you?" She called out, taking a few steps in the direction she'd heard him in.

Nothing, what the hell? Had she been imagining things? Another several steps. If he was rolling around in God only knew  _what_  sitting around in that alleyway, so help her, she was going to somehow turn his fur bright pink so he'd be the laughing stock of all her pokemon for a while. Complete with pink, frilly bow on top of it too!

A sudden weight on her shoulders gave her reason to jump, startled to see the aforementioned cat sitting there as if nothing had ever happened. "...are you  _serious_?" She asked him in disbelief, scratching the large eyed feline despite her irritated tone of voice, relieved to see him safe and unharmed as she headed back for the Pokemon Center. "I'm totally narking you off to Luka, you know that right?"

He didn't give much in the way of a response, butting lightly against her cheek and rubbing his cheek against her chin and face while purring in the way he know would make her melt like a sucker, bending to his whims. "Yeah, yeah; you  _know_  you're good enough to get away with it," She groused, unable to hide a smile on her face as she opened the Pokemon Center's doors to head back inside. "Spoiled rotten is what you are, next time I see that N guy, he's got a  _lot_  of questions to answer."


	5. Chapter 5

Touko was awake the moment she heard the birds singing, and stretched with a jaw cracking yawn accompanying the movement. After the whole falling off the side of the road thing, discovering that the stories on tv were true about people hurting Pokemon for no reason, and then Purrloin's disappearance after she'd discovered his scars at bath time? She'd definitely needed a bit of a break.

Good thing a decent night's sleep had the special perk of doing wonders for a girl's self-esteem and confidence.

"It's a new day, everyone," She chirped happily, careful not to dislodge anyone from the bed as her feet hit the floor. "Who's ready for some training and fun?" Plans for her day were already racing through the brunette's head and her eyes were already sparkling in excitement.

Just having her Pokemon with her and not dashing over to Cheren and Bel's place to drag them along on her morning runs was, admittedly, a little lonely. But she'd cope, she always did when no one was able to come out and play.

 _Sixteen and still calling it 'playing'_ , She mused to herself as she dug through her bag for her workout clothes.  _I guess old habits die hard, but it's true. We don't 'hang out', we play around._  Got 'em, the blue eyed girl thought happily as she pulled out the hot pink gym shorts and matching tank top her mother had bought for her sixteen birthday. Headphones plugged in, Touko did the same stretches she'd done until leaving home, making sure her arms, legs and the rest of her was relaxed, warmed up and ready for a run around the city.

Amalthea snorted, intrigue in her sky colored eyes as she pushed herself up and shook herself, stubby spike of a tail swishing happily as she came over to nose the human girl's shoulder. The young brunette laughed, pushing the velvety soft muzzle away from her hair as the equine pokemon began lipping at it. "Hey, you take care of your mane, I'll take care of mine!" She teased, undoing the braid and retying it into a lower ponytail than she normally wore.

"Anyone else wanna come along?" Touko asked, looking at those still in bed. One great emerald eye opened, regarding her as if saying, 'you  _must_  be joking' before closing again, curling his lanky purple and cream colored frame into a smaller ball. "Guess that's a no out of you, Purrloin. What about you Luka? Snivy?" She inquired. The tiny puppy yawned and decided to risk her nose getting swatted, creeping closer to the slightly taller feline and snuggling close.

The tiny snake checked out the window from his position on her pillow and finally gave her a nod, uncoiling himself to leap on her shoulder when she sat on the bed to tie the laces on her running shoes. Hopefully the morning was too cold, she thought to herself and stood, grabbing her water bottle and a small hand towel she'd use during her cool down.

"Alright," she declared decisively, looking between the two sleepy pokemon and the two alert ones. 'malthea, Snivy and I'll be back soon; guard the room for us, okay? Silence was her response, so she took it as a form of 'okay, we will' much like how she'd done when her mother had gone to work at Araragi's lab as her on call assistant at five in the morning.

_****** _

The city was really kinda creepy when it was this early in the morning.

Touko mused to herself as they took a slow, leisurely lope around the main streets, building up to the really fun stuff as they passed by a cafe that looked like it was getting ready to set up. Amalthea was... not quite trotting to keep up, but seemed to be enjoying herself immensely regardless. The outskirts of said city came into view about ten minutes later, Touko switching songs as she jogged in place for a moment, prepping herself for the "main event", as she was beginning to call it.

"Alright," She reached up and tapped on the little reptile's nose to make sure he was awake. "you know the drill, vines out. I don't want you falling off and getting hurt, it'd make me cry again." Her voice was still as kind and gentle as always, but she was picking up how to scold a pokemon without hurting their feelings. Snivy's eyes flashed in alarm at the thought of his trainer crying, two vines creeping out as he wrapped them around her forehead in a goofy looking sort of headband and, for good measure, grabbed two tiny handfuls of hair to hold on to as well.

He made an inquiring sound and she smiled, reaching up to let him rub against her hand. "Good job, nice and safe." She praised, turning her attention back to the road ahead of her. "Amalthea, be careful not to run anyone down, and I'll do the same." Definitely should do the same, she'd accidentally run Bel and Cheren off the trail a couple different times back home. Hearing an imaginary shot fired from the starter gun, Touko took off at a swift pace, arms pumping as she immediately began monitoring her breathing and searching for the right pace.

She knew a lot of trainers had a tendency to just focus on their Pokemon, to make sure they were in the best shape possible for battles and in terms of just overall health. As a result, she'd seen a  _lot_  of trainers let themselves go to the point they had to hire a professional in the industry to exercise their Pokemon for them.

No way in hell was she turning into one of those.

Her feet beat against the pavement for as far as it stretched, her balance wobbling a bit as firm pavement became slightly less than beaten dirty and gravel road leading into the foresty areas leading into Pinwheel Forest. Balance quickly regained as her body and stride adapted to the new terrain, she caught the flash of black and white to her left and grinned. _Looks like she's having fun,_  the young brunette thought to herself, happy to have a partner who seemed to be as active as she was.

Touko rounded the corner, eyes intent on the tree on the opposite side of the clearing as a good stopping point. Her bare legs barely registered the splash of cold water against her skin as she and the fleet-footed zebra dashed through the area. So focused on their run, the two didn't see the amused looks exchanged between the pair who were nearly run down by the racing trainer and her Pokemon as they zipped past.

"Do we call out to her or...?" Bel asked nervously, watching the retreating back of her best female friend. "I mean she's, like, going  _mega_  fast and everything," the young blonde also looked flushed, her hair wind-tossed and her own orange and white jogging suit on as she looked over at Cheren. "What if she totally trips or something if we do? That'd be a total bummer."

He slid his glasses up the sweat covered bridge of his nose, dabbing fiercely at the sweat trying to roll down his neck and back so he wouldn't catch a chill and scowled at the girl he'd known for more than ten years. "Honestly, Bel," his voice took on that lecturing tone the girls were both so familiar with. "not  _everyone_  is as clumsy and easily startled as you are. She couldn't hear us anyways." Cheren tended to make things harder on himself, he hated exposing his skin and tended to wear a pair of jogging sweats instead of shorts like everyone else. He'd been marked down during gym as a result for not dressing down, but he'd stuck firmly to the pants until the teacher had finally given up and let him have his way.

Shooting him a dirty look, the green eyed teenager frowned and squinted, trying to figure out why he Touko wouldn't be able to hear her. "I don't get it, she's not  _that_  lost in thought, is she?" She asked after a moment, hoping the black haired boy had seen something she hadn't.

Cheren had to resist the urge to slap a hand over his eyes and groan.  _She's my friend, she's not exactly the brightest thing in the world and she needs someone to help her when she doesn't get it._...but why did it have to be  _him_  all the time, for crying out loud? Maybe he'd ask Touko to watch out for her for a little while, travel together so she didn't get lost... and there was a chance they'd all actually  _get_  somewhere on time for once.

...but then again, Touko had been the last one to arrive at Nacrene, so maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"Cheren? Are you ignoring me again?" She demanded, sounding hurt as she stood, leaning over the slightly taller boy with an unhappy look on her face. She was leaning at just the right angle that he could see down her shirt if he looked.

He was a smart young man and deliberately averted his gaze, his cheeks turning pink. "N-No," he muttered irritably. Great. He was stuck with his best friend and she wound up unintentionally flashing him all because he hadn't been paying that much attention to what she was saying. Touko would kick his ass for making her cry if she realized what he  _could_ see and caught him.

And, for a girl, Touko hit pretty damn hard.

"I wasn't ignoring you, I was just wondering how you beat her to Nacrene when it's usually the other way around." He explained, scratching his head. "And to answer your question? She has headphones in, like usual."

"Oooh, you're right! Geez, Cheren, you're so smart. I didn't even notice that." Bel squealed, as if she too could see the headphones now, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the morning sun. Watching Touko reach the tree and stop a little ways after it, the blonde girl didn't notice Cheren's palm connect with his forehead in exasperation.

_****** _

"Oh geez, sorry guys, I didn't even see you!"

Touko apologized profusely, looking embarrassed as she kicked out her legs as she walked and tried to keep any build up from occurring that would make her muscles cramp up. Her towel was draped around her neck and Amalthea was keeping pace with her, breathing fairly hard herself. "I was-"

"In the zone, we know." Bel and Cheren chimed in at the same time, exchanging amused looks with one another and shook their heads. "We know, it's become predictable with you." He informed her with a smirk, trying to look cocky enough that it would annoy her and get her embarrassed at the same time.

"Kinda like your battle style, Cheren!" Bel chimed in with a giggle, ducking behind the taller girl with a squeal when the black haired boy acted like he was going to spray some of the water out of his bottle at her in retaliation. "No,  _don't_!" She whined in protest, her grip on Touko's shoulders tightened as the nerdy boy began taking threatening steps in her direction with said water bottle in hand.. "Touko, tell him to stop!"

A slightly malicious smile appeared on Cheren's face as he slowly moved closer. "This is between you and  _me_ , Bel," He replied slowly, intentionally trying to spook her by lowering his voice. "Tou, I  _highly_  recommend you stay out of this." It got the anticipated result, as Bel's green eyes widened and she let out a squeak of fear and hid her face in the brunette's back. Her face was probably red, he thought with a satisfied smirk he tried to keep off of his face.

A flushed Bel was cute, even he'd have to admit that much, and she was  _ridiculously_  easy to tease.

Snivy gave an odd sound between a grunt and a hiss, Touko trying to hide her laughter at the little snake's idea of fun. "Sorry, Cheren." She apologized, accepting the water bottle from one of the little vines that'd held it securely for her and planted her feet shoulder length apart. "But Bel's  _definitely_  needing someone to protect her, isn't that right, Snivy?"

Dark eyes met highly amused blue and matching grins appeared on their faces. Cheren slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I see," He said simply. "that's really too bad, Touko. I thought we'd make a good team." His thumb popped the the cap free from the water bottle as he drew back his arm. For a long moment, the two stared at each other, seizing up the opponent the same way their Pokemon would in a battle.

And then all hell cut loose.

_****** _

"In retrospect, having a water bottle fight when it's, like, fifty two degrees out is  _not_  a good idea." Touko informed the other two sheepishly as they sat in her little room at the Pokemon Center. After the brief, but fun filled fight had ended, Bel had sneezed and immediately suggested they go some place warmer. Which had turned out to be back to Touko's room in said center... and ended with them getting scolded not just by the Nurse Joy on duty, but by the Audino who saw them as well.

With strict orders to get into a hot shower immediately and dry off before they caught their death from cold, the young brunette had played generous hostess, allowing Cheren and Bel to go first. The often air headed blonde was still flushed, and the sixteen year old girl had a sneaking suspicion that the very slight smirk on their mutual friend's face was very likely the cause.

 _...and here I thought Cheren was crushing like crazy on_ me _,_  Touko thought to herself, narrowing her eyes slightly at the two of them.  _Must've been mistaken, judging by what I see._ "So, what should we do now?" She asked, pretending she didn't see the looks her friends sneaked at one another as she rummaged through her clean clothes for a jacket.

Before anyone could respond, the sound of of several stomachs rumbling filled the air. Pokemon and human alike had the decency to look a little embarrassed before Bel tentatively raised a hand. "Breakfast first?" All three of them asked at the same time, their Pokemon looking between them in comical surprise and confusion.

The three looked at each other and burst out laughing, high five-ing one another when they could pick themselves up off the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

"She trains," Touko's voice trailed off as she flipped through the brochure on Nacrene City that she'd picked up from the magazine rack on the first floor. Currently lounging in an awkwardly uncomfortable looking position with her long legs draped over the arm of the stuffed chair, the sixteen year old Pokemon Trainer was looking for anything that might help her get a bit of an advantage in her upcoming match. Blue eyes narrowed as she lost the spot on the page she'd been reading.  _Crap, where was it?_  "Normal types, there we go."

She sighed and blew her bangs out of her face. No mentioning of  _who_  she had in her possession, just that they were Normal type Pokemon. Cheren and Bel were already fast asleep in the bed, a glance at the clock showed it was approaching midnight fast. She heard mumbling and glanced over at the two blanket covered lumps in the bed with a smile. Bel always had trouble falling asleep unless someone was next to her. They didn't have to stay the whole night, they just needed to be there long enough for her to be deep in sleep and didn't wake up when anyone moved.

Though she found it rather interesting that she clung to Cheren when he was on bed-buddy duty.

 _Wonder who'll make the first move there?_  She thought to herself with a grin. Snivy gave a soft, inquiring sound from atop her head, his tiny vines stretching down to tap a section of the magazine. "Huh?" Touko blinked, looking at the section he was pointing to. "Holy crap, you're awesome." She couldn't help but sound impressed; the smart little snake had found where she'd lost her place.  _...I wonder if they can read or if they're just really observant?_

That'd be a fun question to be able to ask them, and to get a response in return.  _I wish I could talk to Pokemon and understand them like I can a human being._ "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you could read." She told him, giggling as he seemed to puff up, pleased with the praise given to him by his trainer. His skin was getting kind of rough, and he was itchier lately too, she thought as she felt him crawl down to rest on her chest and stomach, large brown eyes closing in bliss as she scratched the ridges above his eyes and beneath his chin.

"So, since you're so smart, what do you think a good strategy would be?" She asked him, reaching down into the bag at her side to grab a pen and notebook Cheren always insisted on giving her whenever they met up. Apparently the studious boy thought she'd be filling up notebooks upon notebooks with observations and whatever else he probably used his for.

Since she totally bombed art class, she doodled a stick figure with a weird shape that  _might_  have been her hat. "Let's see, this is me," She wrote her name beside the figure and drew a squiggly looking arrow pointing from it to her stick person self. A second stick figure was drawn opposite of the page, with two Poke balls next to it with question marks above them. "and this is Gym Leader Lenora with her Pokemon."

Four semi-decent looking circles were penned in beside the stick figure representing herself. "I have you, Amalthea, Luka and Purrloin on my side." She frowned for a moment, scratching out the four circles she'd drawn and placing them with the initial of each of her Pokemon further off to the side. "Hmm, four against two," Touko's brow furrowed, Snivy opening one eye to glance at her from the side. "that  _should_  be good enough, two of you guys against each one of hers. In theory, that'll be enough to take 'em down, even if they get in a few really good hits."

There was doubt, and it showed in her voice and face.

_****** _

Five in the morning came early for the sixteen year old, and she groaned as her alarm went off. Bleary eyed and half-asleep, she squinted at the digital display and sighed.  _Serves me right for trying to go Cheren's route._ Touko thought to herself and forced herself out of the little cocoon she'd made with the blankets. Some things could be done on the fly, like battles against her best friends and gym leaders.

Trying to plan a battle when you don't even know anything other than your opponent's type, however? Totally  _not_  recommended.

"C'mon guys," She yawned, reaching over to nudge the sleepy Snivy and Blitzle, as they were the two most likely to accompany her pretty much everywhere. "We gotta get movin', big gym match today and we wanna be pumped up and ready to go." Touko smoothed her messy hair back into a lazy ponytail, too tired to be bothered with it for right now and went over to wake Bel and Cheren up for their run. That had been one thing they'd promised each other on their Pokemon journey; if they were in the same city and knew the others were there? They would all make an effort to meet up and do their morning runs together, or at least have breakfast afterward.

"Wake up, c'mon now." She shook their shoulders. "I'm gonna count to three and then I'll have Oshawott use Water Gun." A grin was on her face at the way Bel jolted at the threat, accidentally knocking the still sleeping boy the rest of the way off the bed. The telltale  _thump_ , deadly silence and a particularly loud snore that shattered said silence in the air as a result woke the two girls- and several of the sleeping Pokemon as well- the rest of the way up.

So did the explosion of laughter from the girls as they collapsed, clutching their stomachs when the cranky boy finally  _did_  wake up and demanded to know how he'd gotten on the floor.

_****** _

Breakfast had turned into a three hour affair once they'd gotten back. Laughter, stories and much teasing had abounded during the meal, something she had the feeling the three of them had needed despite it only being early in their grand adventures. Each of them very likely had something serious on their minds, the young brunette realized early on in the conversation, but something was holding all of them back from actually sharing it like they would have back in Nuvema Town.

 _...probably because we don't want the other two worrying, that's why we're not saying anything._  Pretty fair assumption to make, actually, as they'd done the same back during the end of term tests and crap at school. Bel was the one she was genuinely worried about. What with the situation in her family and the way her father had exploded when she'd defiantly told him she was going on the journey whether he liked it or not.

Only reason she hadn't reported the asshole to begin with, especially when she saw the red mark on her friend's cheek, was because Bel had begged her from the very beginning not to.  _She keeps insisting they're working things out, that there's progress being made._  Touko thought, looking for any sign that the slightly older girl had met up with her father again.

So far so good; her eyes weren't bloodshot or swollen from crying, and she wasn't wearing long sleeves either, like she did after things tended to get rough.

She'd have to call Cheren later, see if he'd seen or noticed anything about her that she wasn't picking up on. If he had, she wasn't going to be able to keep quiet much longer, even if it meant Bel was going to be mad at her and, well, might even stop being her friend all together.

_****** _

Accidentally falling asleep when preparing for a match was  _such_  a newbie move, she thought disgusted with herself and cursed as she thundered down the stairs of the Pokemon Center. The Joys looked amused by her rush, calling out their well wishes towards her match and chuckled amongst themselves as she gave a hurried wave and a shouted thanks behind her.

 _Crap, crap, crap and_ double _crap._  Touko scowled as she stumbled, nearly going down hard on the asphalt before regaining her balance. Stupid shoelaces, she thought and knelt down to tie the hot pink laces more securely this time. Snivy was muttering in her ear, apparently more than slightly cranky at not having gotten enough sleep himself. She could understand that one, she wasn't exactly feeling like little Sister Mary Sunshine either right now herself.

Once finished with her task, she stood up and... just remained in place. Maybe it was just because she'd not gotten enough sleep, or that she had the usual case of butterflies in her stomach... but she was actually reluctant to go any further.  _I don't get it,_  the blue eyed teenager thought, frustrated.  _I'm_ never _this... uncertain. When did I start doubting myself?_

A vine stuck itself in her ear, the young girl yelping in response as she shook her head hard enough that she felt the pain of little clawed hands digging into her scalp and pulling her hair. "Hey, Snivy! What the hell was that for?" She demanded, glaring at him through the reflection of a shop window they passed. "You don't just stick that thing in someone's ear without warning, it's rude!"

" _vy._ " There was a stern, no nonsense tone in the grass snake Pokemon's voice and the little claws dug in a little deeper, as if warning her against saying or doing something stupid.

She frowned, wondering what the hell had gotten into the normally cocky, but well mannered, reptile until she noticed his attention was focused in the direction of the gym. The frown slowly melted into a mildly wry smile, her hand reaching up to let him rub against her palm, fingernails lightly scratching his head. "Okay, you're right. I'm being stupid. We'll do fine, even if we don't win the first time, we'll kick some serious butt the next!"

It was a short trek to the gym from there, though she'd paused again when her stomach started churning and dizziness hit her.  _Oh hell, I didn't drink enough water or eat enough at breakfast._  She grumbled silently, rummaging through her pack to inhale part of a breakfast bar. Not exactly the most nutritional thing on the face of the planet, but it was enough for her blood pressure to stop tanking and threatening to drop her where she stood.

What she didn't expect, however, was the sound of a voice coming right behind her, light and conversational and casual. ...like someone who  _didn't_  see the problem with scaring the unholy shit out of another human being and came out of freakin' nowhere. "I... want to see things that no one can see. The truths of Pokemon inside Poke Balls, the ideals of how Trainers  _should_  be..."

Her first response was to jump about a foot in the air and whirl around, Snivy hissing angrily at the sudden movement and the sneaky actions of the person who had been behind her. It took everything it had in her  _not_  to shriek out of fright, she'd  _never_  been good with things that just suddenly jumped out at her or just showed up out of nowhere. Gave Cheren an endless source of amusement during Halloween when they went around to neighborhoods or haunted houses and parties. Of course, he ended up with matching bruises on his arms from where she and Bel would beat on him for being such a jerk for laughing and setting them up, but it was apparently worth it just to hear them scream, she thought sourly.

Just as Touko was about to open her mouth and unleash some of the frustration built up within her in what she knew was probably going to be one of  _the_  biggest overreactions in the century, he managed to do the one thing that she  _didn't_  anticipate.

"What about you, Touko? Do you feel the same?" He asked her, flashing a million dollar smile that would have floored any straight girl caught in its line of sight.


	7. Chapter 7

"Damn it, get back here!" Touko shouted as she vaulted herself over a log, landing with a heavy 'oof' and took off after the Team Plasma goon she'd been tailing the last five minutes. She was in better shape, but he'd gotten a headstart on her. To add insult to injury, she'd watched him kick back, playing with that stupid fossil that he'd stolen while it seemed like each and every freakin' trainer, ranger or bug Pokemon jumped in her way, eager and ready to battle.

She might have to come back and apologize to some of those poor bug types; she didn't  _mean_  to be that vicious when she'd ordered Amalthea to use that Fire attack to try and speed things along.

Branches and bramble whipped at her legs, stinging and leaving welts and scratches behind that she just  _knew_  was gonna end up getting her scolded again by the Nurse Joys at the Center when she finally returned. At the same time, she didn't have the luxury of daintily picking her way through the trail with the  _least_  amount of things that liked to rip at her body when that stupid strawberry haired jackass with the fossil was still laughing at her and getting away.

 _Found him_ , She thought in vicious anticipation, blue eyes practically gleaming at the thought of kicking the guy's ass physically as  _well_  as in a Pokemon match as she watched the mail clad villan duck around the corner.  _If I cut this corner here, I hope I don't get stung, then I should be able to cut him of-_

Her foot landed, and slipped. With a loud, shrill cry of shock, the girl felt herself slip back- a sharp pain radiating through her ankle as her back connected sharply with the unfriendly ground. Stars exploded in her vision as she tried to suck in a breath and found her lungs completely paralyzed.  _Shit, shit, shit,_ shit! Touko chanted in her head, knowing her mother would wash her mouth of if she could have heard the thoughts running through her daughter's head.

Finally able to breathe once her lungs stopped freaking out from the shock of the impact, the sixteen year old sat up and winced as she probed her ankle gingerly with her fingers. Nothing broken, and it didn't have that heated tingling that signaled the swelling a sprain would give her. "Twisted it," Relief and annoyance was thick in her voice as the girl let her hand drop to the ground and leaned back a little. Something cold and sticky made her jerk her hand back, a disgusted noise escaping as she moved to wipe away whatever it was... and frowned a moment at the odd color.

Red.

Touko reached for her side with the not-gross-and-sticky hand, checking it and what she could reach of her back to make sure it wasn't her own.

Nope. Not her blood.

Wait,  _blood_? Why the hell had her brain automatically gone there?

 _No. It's paint, it_ has _to be paint._ Swallowing back the bile threatening to rise, the young trainer shakily lifted her sticky palm to closer and cautiously sniffed, gagging almost immediately as she frantically wiped her hand on the grass next to her. Her good,  _clean_  hand rummaged through her bag, knocking things out of it haphazardly as she managed to locate a bottle of water and poured the contents on the dirtied palm, using her shorts as a way to scrub the skin clean and repeating the process until she was sure all signs of the blood were gone.

 _Okay, freak out done. It's okay. It's off of you, girl, and you don't have to worry about it anymore._ There was a pause as the pieces of a previously hazy puzzle settled into place. It hadn't gotten on her when she'd fallen, but when she'd put her hand a certain place behind her.

Which meant the longer she sat there, the higher the chance was that the blood might just get her again.

Her eyes darted around, looking for the source as she drew her knees up and pushed herself to shaky feet. It'd been cold and wet at first, but had quickly gone sticky in when exposed to air. "Is someone there?"  _Besides you jerks from Team Plasma._ She added silently, though the urge to yell it out was rather tempting. _I wouldn't even_ be _freaked out right now if you would've given me that stupid fossil._  The forest had gone utterly silent in the meantime, no sounds of things in the trees or in the grass or anything.

Which  _totally_  made the whole 'dark, creepy forest' scenario even worse than it was to begin with.

 _God, this is like one of Mom's horror movies._  Calling her mother to flip out sounded like an absolutely wonderful idea. Touko checked the signal- nothing.  _Of-freakin'-course there's no signal._

Taking the first two uneasy steps  _away_  from where she'd fallen, Touko realized that part of a tree she was about to pass also had weird, dark stains on there. Hitting a couple buttons on the Xtransceiver, the blue eyed teen managed to find one of the small settings enabling her to use it as a poor, but functional, flashlight and aimed the weak beam on the trunk. Swallowing hard as she moved a little closer, she shuddered and wrapped her free arm protectively around herself, as if it would ward off whatever had hurt another person badly enough that the blood still glistened on the bark.

And, of course, she looked in every freakin' direction she could think of before deciding, against her better judgement, to investigate further.  _No freak in a mask is gonna get the jump on_ this _girl, nuh-uh, no way._  Besides, her mother would be seriously disappointed if she managed to get killed at the beginning of her journey by some crazy with a chainsaw or something and it was because she hadn't done the obvious thing and looked  _up_  and behind her first.

Aiming the tiny light down, she watched the small trail go into the bushes, followed it with her beam until it disappeared into the darkness of the area in front of her, the leaves smeared with red in places.

"...n-no freakin' way." She said aloud, shaking her head vehemently to emphasize her point, even though the only ones who might hear her were the Bug types she  _hoped_  weren't chewing on whatever, or  _whoever_ , was hurt.  _I'll let Lenora or whatshisname... Burgh, that was it, I'll let one of them know when I see 'em again._ They _can go check it out._

Give her a Pokemon that was hurt, she'd probably feel bad, maybe even tear up over... but she'd be able to deal and actually work to help it. But give her another human being, and you might as well just ask her to put the back of her hand to her forehead and swoon into a dramatically elegant faint.

...except less elegance, and more 'that's my head hitting the floor with the rest of me'.

 _For a tough girl, you_ suck _when it comes to someone bleeding._  Touko shook her head ruefully. It did occur to her that it might actually  _be_  a mammal or bird type that was injured... but there was that funny feeling in her stomach that had  _nothing_  to do with the blood itself that told her to get the hell out of there.

And fast, at that.

She didn't even know where the whole admittedly pretty minor fear of blood came from, just knew the first time she'd actually given someone a nosebleed,  _she'd_  started crying as a result while the boy she'd punched stared at her in a mix of disbelief and confusion. From then on out, the young brunette had done her damndest  _not_  to hit someone in a place they'd bleed. But the sight of it, especially on another human being, had a tendency to shake her if it was a small amount... or if it were something worse, like Cheren's bike accident six years ago, actually send her into what she figured was probably the equivalent of a panic attack.

 _How did it turn out this way?_  The blue eyed teen wondered to herself as she forced herself to turn her back on the bloody leaves and walk away.  _I mean, this wasn't punishment for being kind of a bitch to N, was it?_  She hadn't been  _that_  big of one to deserve something straight out of a horror flick, right?

...right?

_****** _

_Two and a half hours earlier..._

Touko sighed heavily after N's departure as she flopped back down on the grass and glared broodingly at the sky above. The young brunette frowned, going over the events in her head starting from when she'd exploded, embarrassed that she'd actually found him attractive that she'd immediately gone into what Bel called 'defensive mode'. Which, combined with already kind of being in a bad mood  _and_  being reminded of Purrloin's plight, had kind of brought out the real bitch in her.

Something she actually regretted.

"You know, I  _was_  gonna just call him an idiot for throwing away a perfectly good partner," She said aloud to the Pokemon still playing with the Tympole he'd, same as before, released back into the wild after their battle. "it's not like I planned on attacking him like that." God, she was  _still_  defensive even after he was gone. A weight landed neatly on her chest and she looked down, noticing the sly expression on Purrloin's face as she reached up and scratched under his chin. "I definitely owe him an apology, don't I?

He didn't bother responding, just purred and dipped his head so she could get behind his ears. Her eyes searched for answers in the sky, looking over the fluffy white clouds as she tried- and gave up trying to justify her own behavior. She'd always been that way; any time she'd done something wrong or said something she shouldn't have, she'd always thought it over and come to the conclusion she'd totally overreacted and had to apologize.

"Alright," Touko sat up, effectively dumping a rather displeased and indignant feline into her lap. The others looked at her, interested by the movement and awaited the rest of what their trainer was about to say... or do, as was often the case. "First stop; Pokemon Center, and then the Gym! We're gonna get our next badge, no sweat!" Snivy looked pleased, his brown eyes lighting up as he exchanged matching looks with Purrloin. The two of them formed a rather... unique team, being the ones who knew the most about the world, after all, and being the ones least likely to get excitable and lose their heads in battle.

As a result, they put themselves in charge of their trainer's well being, as well as the rest of the 'team's' as well.

A chime from an unfamiliar voice stopped them all short, Touko blinking as she finished slinging her bag back over her shoulder. "Guys? Something wrong?" Concern was in her voice as she looked from each member of her group to the next, trying to find who had made the odd sound. Snivy leaped from her shoulder to Blitzle's back and then used his vines to carefully lower himself to the ground. With a few boosted jumps with his tail, the little grass snake planted himself on the pond's edge, looking at the bright, hopeful black eyes of the little tadpole Pokemon and then back at his trainer.

Blue eyes met with brown, and then moved to the impossible to resist black eyes of the aquatic pokemon. "Tympole?" She asked after a moment, approaching the water's edge and kneeling down closer to the energetic little Water type. Touko glanced at Snivy, an inquisitive look on her face as she looked from Tympole, to her very first Pokemon and back again. "...you wanna come too?" There was a hint of doubt in her voice, an odd sort of sinking in her chest as she watched the little guy leap out of his pond, coming nearly to her shoulder before splashing right back down again and slapping his tail against the water eagerly.

 _...he's not going to evolve into something cute, cool, or regal, I can already tell._  She thought, unable to help the thought and kicking herself for being so shallow. Every Pokemon had their good points and bad points, it wasn't their fault that their physical appearance wasn't  _always_  the most pleasing thing about them, and she knew that. Hell, it was the same for human beings.

...didn't make it any easier for a sixteen year old girl who  _really_  liked cute and cool things to just up and get over, however.

"Ahh well," She said, unable to help but smile as the hopeful look only increased tenfold when she reached into her bag for an unused Poke Ball. "You can't help it anymore than I can help not being tall enough for the basketball team. Welcome to the team, Tympole!"

_****** _

And it'd  _all_  gone down hill from there, damn it all. Touko thought with a long sigh as she began carefully making her way through the brush and thick trees towards the trail she'd practically dived head first off of to try and head off that stupid rookie.

She'd  _barely_  managed to defeat the Gym Leader, and even when it was down to their last Pokemon for each of 'em, Purrloin had gotten lucky when the last attack Herrdier had sent his had missed and his own had managed to score a particularly hard hit that sent the bigger canine flying into the legs of his owner, too hurt and dazed to continue further.

Between the  _totally_  ruined mood and unsatisfactory battle with N, the near-defeat at Lenora's hands, seeing the surprise on Cheren and Bel's faces when they heard how close she'd come to  _losing_  her match, and the subsequent hunt-down-that-stupid-thief game she was currently playing?

This was turning out to be one of the crappiest days of her whole freakin' life.


	8. Chapter 8

_Definitely_  ranking up there as  _the_  crappiest day of her life, the young woman thought to herself with clenched fists tightened at her sides and a might glare at the two men in front of her.

She'd managed to find them, overhearing their conversation- something about a king being pissed off with their continued failures as of late, and another something about 'this is not the fossil we are looking for'- and barged in despite an ankle that was  _still_  pissed off at her.

One battle later and, to add insult to personal injury, Burgh and Lenora had shown up just as the grunt had shoved the Dragon Skull into her chest hard enough to knock her back a couple of steps with a witty remark about how her babysitters had come to rescue her. Which, of course, had led her to her current situation; trading insults with the guy who acted like she was some dumb kid, but had the brain cells of a ten year old boy hell bent on irritating a girl he liked.

'cept, they didn't like each other and those in the clearing were  _more_  than aware of it by now.

"Watch yourself; our King is merciless to those who stand in his way," The chain wearing Plasma grunt smirked as he pointed squarely at Touko, finished with his last insult and decided to leave a warning for her to remember him by. Lenora and Burgh immediately jumped to her defense, placing themselves in front of her like two human shields. She thought she saw surprise- and something else- flash across the face of the man who'd called himself a "Sage" at the action of the two gym leaders. The cockiness in the strawberry-blond's voice had wavered a bit as well as he finished up the rest of the big speech he'd apparently been preparing to use on someone like her. "You've seen it, we heard you scream, after all."

"I didn't scream," Touko shot back, furious at the whole 'protection' thing and the implication she'd screamed at the blood she'd seen. "I tripped on a stupid root and twisted my ankle chasing you down, you'd yell too if you'd hurt yourself!" Her indignant fury wasn't enough to hide the slight paling of her skin at the memory of what had happened after she'd slipped.

The grunt scoffed even as the Sage placed a warning hand on his shoulder, squeezing in a way that looked like it hurt as he shrugged, as if letting the argument go since she was just a kid. "Whatever you say, princess," Touko lunged, blue eyes practically ablaze with fury at the condescending tone and the irritating nickname, only kept from her target by the unyielding arms of Lenora and Burgh. Said grunt laughed at her vicious sounding snarl of helpless rage as a dark figure dropped down, placing a black clad hand against the Sage and grunt's shoulders. "just remember; you keep it up and you'll end up like those guys; half-dead and finished off by the same Pokemon you'd enslave."

And vanished like they'd never been there to begin with.

"They always do that," Burgh muttered, looking disappointed and troubled as he scratched. "I want to say one of those fellas in black owns a Psychic type... but my lovely bugs would have told me that much." Burgh's expression was hard to read as he tapped the button on one of his poke balls, releasing a purple, red and black Pokemon with a gold eye that peered out suspiciously from the center. The artistic man knelt down, one hand on the smooth, sleek shell. "...but if there's fighting amongst them lower ranked members, that's a troubling development."

"The hell is that fool talkin' about, anyways?" Lenora asked Touko, aqua eyes steely as she directed her gaze at the young woman clutching the Dragon Skull tightly to her chest. Her hands planted themselves on her hips, preparing herself for a verbal back and forth with a girl she could tell had plenty of fire and sass in her to carry her through most situations. "Let's hear it while we walk on back to the Gym and get that skull back where it should be."

At the look Touko shot him, Burgh held up a friendly hand and smiled. "I'll wait for you in the city, miss. Don't give my dear Lenora too much of a hard time now." Turning to his Whirlipede, the messy haired Gym Leader nodded and began walking deeper into the forest with a slightly out of focus look on his face.

Lenora gave the smaller trainer a raised eyebrow, patiently waiting for the girl to tell her what it was that'd given her a good enough kick in the guts that she'd flinched despite being pissed as a kicked hornet's nest. "...think he'll find them?" The blue eyed teen finally asked as they hit solid, concrete road and began walking back to the Gym.

"Find who, sugar?" The older woman asked patiently, wondering not for the first time if she'd made a mistake in not having a few kids with her husband. Maternal instincts were strong, even if her desire and need to work out in the field happened to be stronger the rest of the time, and this one didn't seem like a lot of the other little brats she'd fought over the last couple years. "You see somethin' when you were chasin' that fool down?"

Touko nodded after a moment and blew her hair out of her face. "You could say that. I technically didn't  _see_  anyone," She trailed off and shivered again.  _Totally getting a shower when I get back to the Pokemon Center._  And then, she was going to make sure Cheren and Bel weren't too worried about her before crawling into bed and having a good, long talk with her mother about what had happened. "There was blood, that's all I saw." After another long bout of silence, she gave a sideways look to Lenora, the teal haired woman's expression serious, but calm. "Not gonna grill me or anything?" She asked, curious at the odd reaction to something so serious.

Pearly white teeth flashed in a grin as the older archeologist chuckled and shook her head. "When you get to be my age, honey," A large, warm arm was thrown around the smaller girl's shoulders as she hauled the girl over for a brief squeeze of support and comfort. "you learn that some people don't do well bein' rushed and need time. They'll talk, eventually, you just gotta wait and be patient." A warm laugh. "Think of it like tryin' to catch that damn stubborn Pokemon you really wanted," Lenora herself paused, a conspiratorial grin on her face as she noticed the girl's curiosity suddenly pique. "Or," the older woman said slowly, tapping a finger against her lip in consideration before giving the long legged teen a wink. "like trainin' a husband; lots of patience, hard work and  _none_  too few times where you throw your hands up and tell that man he's drivin' you crazy."

The response was exactly what the older woman had wanted, the girl burst out laughing and lost that tense, kinda delicate mood about her that no girl her age  _should_  have to be in. "Atta girl, Touko," Lenora praised pointing to the entry gates for the city. "Now, let's go see if those two friends of yours've gone and worn holes in my floor from worryin'."

_****** _

"Len's gonna be pissed about this," Burgh sang softly to himself under his breath as he watched his beloved bugs use their expert skills and string shot a temporary cast on to one of the men's legs. Despite the light hearted tone of voice and casual seeming behavior and expression, the lanky gym leader was disturbed by the turn of events. He'd heard of the issues over in the Sinnoh region with Team Galactic and their rather unnerving tactics in attempt to achieve their own plans of a 'whole new world', or so the rumor had been.

Of course, he'd also heard almost nightly during long distance phone calls with his lover about the developments taking place from Sinnoh itself, including the man's surprise when he explained how a mere twelve year old had brought them down.

Kind of like the boy... Red, he believed the lad's name had been, who had initially taken down Team Rocket single handed several years ago, and then the two youngsters who'd come back and cheerfully kicked their asses once again two and a half, almost three years after. One of which, if he remembered the gossip correctly, had been Giovanni's own son.

Burgh's eyes narrowed as he recalled the anger and insult on young Touko's face, followed by the way the emotions still sparkled in her eyes despite the color in her face draining. "I wonder how much she saw," he mused quietly, glancing to see how the Pokemon were fairing and observed their behavior. "it couldn't have been the men themselves, or she'd have been hysterical." A hum from the three before him was his response from his lovely little friends.

Fussy, neat little things they were, he thought with a proud smile. They'd inherited his own personal desire to have things clean, often picking things up- or eating them, as some of them had the unhealthy habit of doing- as a way to help out and stave off boredom in between challengers at the gym and 'modeling' sessions for his paintings.

They were concerned, which meant another human being had been involved in the injury affliction. If it were a Pokemon's doing, the hum would be more of a buzz, an angry sound that would end up with his team hunting down the perpetrator and quietly taking care of business. Usually, it meant they disabled the one responsible and had Burgh catch them in hopes their master and friend could rehabilitate them, or send them to a place where they could live in peace and not worry about humans trespassing on their territory.

Leavanny's head suddenly rose, antennae twitching as beady eyes focused on a branch somewhere off to his left behind him. Body language informed his trainer that  _someone_  was there, and whoever it was, they weren't exactly the most  _friendly_  of individuals. Keeping a friendly smile on his face as he sidled closer to his trusted partner, Burgh's eyes began searching for the source of the sudden tension and caution in his Pokemon. "You know, spying isn't exactly the best of hobbies," he remarked conversationally, pretending like he wasn't on edge and wondering if that Sage from Team Plasma had come back for the promised rematch. "in fact, I'd put it right up there with eavesdropping."

There was a faint rustling from two different directions.

 _More than one person?_  Burgh's smile slipped slightly at the thought. Two against one had a tendency to get rather nasty quickly, and nastiness was something the insect loving artist would rather avoid.

"It isn't spying when it concerns my men." Burgh whirled, staring at the tall form slightly wider than his own wiry frame who'd managed to sneak up on him.  _Impossible; my team should have alerted me._ Yet, there the tall man was, kneeling beside his Whirlipede and stroking it in the same way he would have after a good, long battle. What was more concerning was the ease in which his Pokemon accepted the stranger; they didn't tend to like anyone but himself most of the time, and only tolerated his dear handsome friend when he was able to spend some time with him.

Hell's fire, the artist thought in dismay as he caught a look at the shadowed eyes staring at him, something wasn't right with this one- and he'd met a  _lot_  of interesting, strange people in his life. Heck, Castelia was  _full_  of those same kinds of quirky, not exactly on the same level as everyone else, types... but this guy was seriously taking the cake. Wetting suddenly parched lips, the thirty two year old Gym Leader forced himself to strap a bit of that mental steel to his spine and take charge of the interaction. "Your men? You're the leader of Team Plasma?"

The corner of the young- and he  _was_  young too- man's mouth curved slightly upwards as he stopped petting the bug type and rose to his full height. "My name is N." Three simple words, so many implications and so much... that still didn't seem right. No way, even Team Galactic's leader was in his late twenties, early thirties at least. This kid... well, Burgh would be shocked to hear if he was past twenty at most. That intense gaze moved elsewhere for a moment, studying the Pokemon at the other man's side. "You haven't moved from this person's side," the comment wasn't directed at him, the wavy haired man thought in surprise. "do you enjoy doing these demeaning things he commands?"

"Wait just a minute here," he began to protest, cut short by the suddenly glare in his direction- and the almost overwhelming feeling of being... caught  _under_  something powerful. Something unusually strong and angry that  _would_  hurt him if given the opportunity or reason to.

"I wasn't speaking to  _you_ ," his voice was scathing, cutting in tone as he almost immediately dismissed him after educating him on that matter and focused once more on the now livid Bug type. "but for  _some_  reason, I'm to treat you with a degree of respect." The venomous displeasure in the youth's voice was enough to make Burgh cringe slightly.

There was silence as whatever the chittering sounds, angry as they were, and the occasional noncommittal sound made by the green haired youth were exchanged. Finished after a lengthy amount of time, the khaki wearing boy stood and gave him a look that had the older Gym Leader automatically reaching for the small canister on his back hip. "This time, as a favor to  _him_ ," he said quickly, in a voice that left no room for argument or discussion and gestured to the angry bug type glaring at him. "you are forgiven for helping those who would harm  _my_  friends." Eyes filled with hate and scorn landed on the two men, red showing through the thick strands that bound up some of the injuries. "I will have them put to death if they dare show their faces before me once more."

Another pause as the tall youth regarded the stunned leader in front of him, a smirk touching his expression as he cocked his head to one side. "Advise the rest of  _your_  kind to stay out of my way as well," he nodded at the severely injured men. "or they may meet a similar fate."

He could only watch the young man turn around, unable to find the words to stop him... and found himself suddenly with the man right in his face, a clamor of furious clicking and squalling from another Pokemon suggesting a fight had broken out with whatever had suddenly taken Lev from his side. His shirt was fisted in both of the youth's hands and he was lifted to eye level.  _Holy-_

"And one more thing," N said quietly, eyes intense and his voice nearly a whispered growl. "stay  _away_  from that girl; she is able to be purified from the taint  _you_  Gym Leaders and Professors enjoy spreading." A shove sent the lanky leader stumbling back, nearly falling to the ground as he looked down on him, shook his head and walked off with something that _might_  have been the word 'pathetic' muttered under his breath.

Burgh watched the young man leave, gaping in disbelief and glanced down at the still angry Leavanny who had placed himself in front of his trainer. Head spinning, the lanky Gym Leader found a fallen log and plopped down on it, raking both hands shakily through his hair and wishing desperately for a cigarette that his lover would kill him for wanting.

Lenora wasn't going to be pissed; she was going to be supernaturally  _livid_  when he told her what was going on.


	9. Chapter 9

Talking to Lenora had helped more than Touko thought it would.

The Gym Leader had a natural maternal streak in her that made it very,  _very_  easy for the usually cautious but friendly brunette to trust her. She listened carefully, took what she had to say seriously and made her feel better by the end of the conversation to the point she even had  _Cheren_  cracking up with some of her wilder stories. It was a wise decision, according to the very busy woman, to stay there for the night instead of forcing herself to head back through the forest.

Cheren, never one to miss an opportunity, began trying to grill her about Burgh, the Gym Leader in Castelia City-and thus their party's next destination. The only thing that the teal eyed woman would say, with a smile wider than Bel's eyes had been when she'd won the very late match against the Normal type trainer, was that he was a  _very_  talented artist and trainer.

...and that he particularly liked Bug type Pokemon.

"What's with you trying to cheat anyway, Cheren?" Touko asked as she punched her pillow a couple times to fluff it up the way she liked it as the three of them settled down for the night. "It's not like you at all." She propped her cheek against her hand as she watched her childhood friend the same way she usually did throughout their sleepovers and get togethers.

The black haired boy's shoulders shifted, hunching a little as he avoided looking at her and pushed his glasses up his nose. His expression, once again returning to irritated, shifted only a little as he tried to hide his guilt from her. It wasn't like it was something  _easy_  to explain, he thought to himself. Not like Bel's whole 'I wanna be friends with Pokemon and learn things' reason behind her journey. After all, it wasn't as simple as saying, 'I need to be as prepared and powerful as possible in order to prove myself as the best match possible for you'. "It isn't cheating," the dark eyed boy insisted with an annoyed tone. "it's merely another way of doing research. All Gym Leaders know one another, after all, and I thought she'd be willing to give me some information, that's all."

Bel frowned as she looked between her two best friends, brow furrowed as she looked at her Munna and back at the two of them. "You two are acting so totally weird today, you know?" She broke the heavy silence that hung in the air after Cheren's... rather distracted response. It was definitely distressing, knowing that  _something_  was different, but not being a part of it. That wasn't how things were supposed to go between the three of them, and she really didn't like this tension at all.

It was too much like home, and this wasn't supposed to  _be_  like home.

Her green eyes darkened, the pink and purple Pokemon crooning softly to try and comfort her as she squeezed the chubby Psychic type to her chest like a stuffed animal. "Seriously guys, you're, like, freaking me out here. Why are you guys fighting?" Bel's troubled gaze moved from one friend to the other, watching the guilt and embarrassment on Cheren's face turn his cheeks and ears red, while Touko's expression became more and more... distant, withdrawn... but no less intense.

Cheren's squirming meant he'd done something wrong, and once again, Touko was the one who noticed it first and was calling him on his shit. At least, that was how Bel'd come to see it at this point, as Cheren wasn't usually squirmy or prone to getting flustered unless he  _was_  doing something bad. He just wasn't that kind of guy- she'd know, she'd been best friends with him since she was, like, two or three years old.

"...it's not a fight, Bel." The steely eyed brunette finally said, sounding more tired than she had been only a little while before. "Don't freak, it looks like I just misunderstood, or something. Sorry, Cheren." The pink blanket she'd packed with her was fussed with, pulled up and over her shoulder as she turned to face the opposite direction from her black haired friend.  _Shoulda waited 'til Bel was asleep to talk to him. Now she'll be freaking out until we figure a way to prove to her we're_ not _actually fighting and that everything's okay._

_****** _

"...you still awake?" Cheren asked quietly, shifting a little so that he could look over at the pink blanket covering the back of one of his best friends. In between them was Bel, covered in her purple blanket that they'd gotten for her as a gift- one hand holding each of theirs in a way that couldn't have been terribly comfortable for the brunette... or for the blonde either, all things considered. If he knew her the way he thought he did, the blue eyed girl wouldn't be asleep because she'd still be upset about the little squabble they'd had.

"Yeah," her response was remarkably devoid of any feeling what so ever. It was a trait he envied and often wished he had himself, that way talking to her would be that much easier when he didn't have to try hiding how he felt. "what's up?" But she still didn't turn over to face him.

Damn it, he'd really pissed her off, or she was just being totally unreasonable.

"I still don't think it's cheating, just saying." He informed her, knowing he even sounded defensive to his own ears but wanting to say it anyway. "But maybe I  _was_  trying to get _something_  that might get me a little bit of an advantage over Burgh." An uncomfortable pause as he muttered something that Bel probably would have scolded him for under his breath. "Because I don't know if I'm good enough to beat him yet. There, I said it, you happy now?"

...make that  _majorly_  defensive, the bespectacled teenager thought to himself with an internal groan and fought the urge to slap his forehead out of aggravation.

There was a long, long pause, a heavy silence he  _really_  didn't like the feeling of and felt his heart start to climb into his throat as time stretched without her saying anything. "Touko?" His voice came out pathetically less cool than he'd wanted it to sound, and a good deal more uncertain than he'd ever imagined he could sound.

"...what good will it do if you can't do it on your own?" She finally asked, rolling over to face him with that same unreadable look she always got on her face whenever she was talking about something she was pretty upset about. "It's... like, you know, stealing an answer from someone's paper. You don't know if they're right or not, you're just going to take it and hope it'll help you out."

"That's not how it is at all!" He protested, quieting down when Bel's brow furrowed and she shifted a little at the sound of his slightly raised voice. "That's not how it is at all," he repeated insistently. "it's... agh, it's just hard to explain, alright? Can you just trust me on that one?"

Her blue eyes seemed to stare right through him as he felt her analyze him, felt her eyes searching his face, searching  _through_  him somehow. He never could hide much from her, it'd been a miracle she hadn't picked up on his feelings for her already and he counted his blessings every day for that fact. "...can you promise me you'll do it on your own terms, instead of trying to hit up Gym Leaders for tips on fighting other Gym Leaders?"

He gave her a wry smile. Damn her for never wanting the easy way out of things, like he and Bel had a tendency to do every so often. "Yeah, I'll promise." Why the hell not? It wasn't like any of the 'How to Be A Powerful Trainer' books he'd ever read were anything remotely helpful thus far in his journey. Might as well figure out how to do it  _his_  way and not rely on how other people's for once. Study guides worked for school, as did good note taking. But nothing prepared someone fully for being a Pokemon Trainer, he thought with a sigh.

And the smile she gave him as a result was  _totally_  worth it.

_****** _

Purrloin leaped down from the back of the sofa he'd been laying on, observing all the while and curled up right beside her. Humans, he thought to himself with an internal sigh. Always so complicated when it came to treating one another properly. The stupid one with glasses was lying and hiding things, something he could already tell his chosen had less than a decent amount of forgiveness and patience for. But his Trainer was also somewhat tactless in her approach; pinning someone on the spot with questions like that was something that _no one_  liked having done, and the denial was pretty much exactly as he would have expected.

Regardless of how this situation got resolved, it just proved once more that things were going to get messy when it came time for N to make his move.  _She doesn't like people hiding things from her, or lying, N._  The purple feline thought to himself as he closed his eyes, purring a little to soothe the girl still lying awake with her troubled thoughts.

She was hiding things too, though, and that was probably eating at her right now. Hiding things on her mind, very likely the implications of Team Plasma's members being beaten bloody and within inches of their lives- if what he'd overheard Lenora say to her husband was correct.

It was concerning, because he had seen the occasions that had sent N past his usual passive-aggressive and flighty self-centered hero complex and into quite the... role of a villain, if one were to be honest. He'd not seen the violence escalate to  _that_  level, but the fact that N was capable of ordering such a thing done didn't bode well at all. The emerald eyed feline only hoped that Zorua would be able to keep him on a short enough leash that the darker side of the good natured, well intentioned man would stay buried deep, deep down and not roused again. Especially now that N's interest in humanity had begun to be rekindled by one girl.

N's deception would only hold for so long, much like one of Zorua's illusions; and when it broke, the results were very likely going to be catastrophic. Purrloin thought to himself and curled his tail just a little tighter around himself as a result of the direction  _those_  thoughts took him to.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright, spill it." Bel demanded, pushing away from her seat at the table, dropping the napkin in the process and marched over to take the unclaimed seat on Touko's left, as Cheren had sat on the girl's right and was now staring at the blonde with his fork half raised to his mouth. "You're acting weird, so start talking." She looked at Cheren. "You too, Cheren. Tell her she needs to talk to us and that she's acting weird."

Feeling like he'd just gotten pinned between a rock and a hard place, Cheren cleared his throat and quickly stuffed the fork full of breakfast sausage and egg into his mouth. He waved his hand in Touko's general direction, chewing and swallowing before he spoke. "She's a  _girl_ , she always acts weird." The look the two teenaged girls gave him was enough to make his shoulders hunch defensively about his ears and pray that he wasn't about to get  _both_  of them jumping his shit. "What? It's the truth," he muttered sourly, pushing his glasses back up his nose the same way he'd done since he got them at six years old. "girls always act weird regardless, rarely rationally and almost  _never_ logically..."

And... he was going to get killed, the thunderous looks on both of their faces informed him, if he didn't wise up and distract them somehow.

He cleared his throat again, setting down his knife and fork to give the brunette a look of his own over the rim of his glasses,  _Sorry Touko,_ he thought before throwing the long legged girl under the proverbial bus. "But Bel  _is_  right, you have been acting abnormally, especially when we'd only been separated for about six to ten hours after the morning run we had yesterday." His expression was serious as he watched Touko shift uncomfortably in her seat and push her food around on her plate with a little more fervor than she had before. "What's going on, Touko?"

For a moment, it looked like the very stubborn brunette was about to clam up- she'd done it before on a few other subjects they knew not to bring up- and then she just sighed and set her fork down on the napkin. Her eyes remained down on the plate as she quietly told her two best friends exactly what she'd seen the day before... and why she was nervous about talking to the police about it.

To give her friends credit, they didn't flip out the way most other people would have, or ask her to get into the excruciating details over what she'd seen. Bel's eyes had filled up with tears of sympathy and horror for her friend and it'd taken allowing the affectionate blonde to hug and cling on to her to keep her from crying. Cheren's expression had gone positively thunderous, and he'd glowered at the door for far longer than was necessary as he mentioned that she didn't  _have_  to talk to anyone if she didn't want to, she was well within her rights not to say anything and she would be perfectly fine.

"I bumped into that guy from before again though, that's about the only good thing that happened other than seeing you guys." Touko admitted with a bit of a laugh, trying to inject some humor into the situation and avoid thinking about what might have awaited her had she gone looking in the blood stained brush. "He's a little weird, but he's pretty fun to talk to, knows what he's doing in a battle too."

What she didn't expect, however, was the two completely different reactions from her friends.

"Is he cute?"

"That freak from Accumula?"

Bel and Cheren stared at one another, identical looks of disbelief on their faces as Touko looked between them in amusement.

"What the  _hell_  does being cute have to do with anything, Bel?" Cheren demanded incredulously. "He's a fast talking creep who believes he can 'hear' a Pokemon's voice- like he's the Doctor Dolittle of Pokemon or something stupid like that." His fork clattered on his plate as he sent a look severe enough to Touko that it caused the brunette to blink in surprise, her brow furrowing at the black haired boy as Bel looked between them, stung by the tone in Cheren's voice. "He's probably a Team Plasma supporter, stay away him or he could try stealing your Pokemon."

"Can he really understand what Pokemon are saying?" Bel asked slowly, thinking hard on the subject and how  _cool_  it would be if it were true. Maybe she'd have to go find this guy and ask him a bunch of questions, or see if it was something  _she_  could learn how to do too! It'd be a really useful skill to have... and maybe it would make her a stronger trainer, or at least help her figure out how to  _be_  stronger, anyways.

"No, it's bullshit." Cheren's response came immediately, without hesitation and full of irritated finality that made Bel want to hit him with her purse, or something like that, so he'd stop being so mean about everything.

Touko's response, however, was much different and was spoken in such a way that both of them turned to look at her in surprise. "Maybe." She looked down at the mess she'd made of her breakfast and set her own fork down, wavy brown hair still in its braid from the night before as she looked steadily at Bel. "It's possible, he certainly  _seemed_  like he could."

"You can't be serious," Cheren commented flatly, giving her the look that usually made one or both of his female friends the urge to throw pillows or something at him. "you actually _believe_  what that guy has to say?"

"I believe what I can see, you know that, Cheren." Touko snapped, suddenly done with the way her black haired friend continued being such a judgmental jerk about  _everything_  all of a sudden. Well, not all of a sudden, but definitely more so than usual. She glared at him, chin set in a way that was decidedly stubborn as she prepared to argue with him until he gave up- or apologized, whichever came first. "He certainly understands Purrloin, and the Tympole he released  _definitely_  seemed to be able to talk to him in a way he understood."

"It doesn't make any  _sense_ , I don't get why you can't see that, Touko." Cheren argued in return, arms folded over his chest as he shoved his glasses back up his nose. "And before you bring it up, no; it's  _not_  like the people who call themselves Psychics;  _they_  don't hear Pokemon's thoughts in actual human language like this N guy says."

"And how the hell would you know that?" Touko demanded hotly, feeling absolutely stupid for getting so worked up over something so freaking trivial.  _Ugh, am I PMSing or something? I'm not usually_ this _much of a bitch._  Maybe the whole thing from yesterday had gotten to her more than she'd thought, and she was just lashing out at anyone who pissed her off for no good reason.

"...you dated one for six months, remember?"

"...oh yeah."

_****** _

The argument had quickly dissipated after that, the three of them looking at one another in the tense silence that followed Cheren's question and Touko's caught-off-guard response and burst into the kind of laughter that came with a potentially hostile situation resolving itself on its own. The nervous, relieved laughter that lasted a lot longer than it should have... and that brought about tears that weren't just from said laughter as well.

Touko and Bel went up to use the shower and bathroom upstairs while Cheren finished cleaning up the table, much to Lenora's rather vocal displeasure when she caught him doing it. He couldn't help but feel pleased at being told he had a 'smart mouth' when he'd merely informed her that he'd been brought up properly by his parents to help out when he was a guest, and that by trying to tell him not to, she would be insulting the way his family, particularly his mother, had raised him.

"What's going to happen with Touko?" Cheren asked, coming out with it before the girls could come downstairs again, and before Touko would have to answer a bunch of questions. His voice was sharp and he could already feel himself tensing up like he did right before a fight- not that he ever  _did_  very well in an actual physical fight, but that was besides the point. "How much danger is she in?"

Lenora paused, finishing the dish she'd been drying and set it down. Wiping her hands on the dishtowel, she folded her arms across her chest, much like she'd seen him do, and allowed one of her eyebrows to raise. "You jump to conclusions pretty quick there, boy. What's got you thinking she's in any kind of danger?"

His eyes narrowed and his hands squeezed into fists. It took effort to keep his voice down, and not to explode- he didn't want the girls to be alarmed and come rushing down thinking that something was wrong. Bel would start crying, and Touko would just yell at him for trying to be the protector when she didn't ask for him to. "The way you reacted to the phone call from Burgh, for one, and the way you told him you'd be 'checking in' with him later to discuss things, for another." His hands, for a lack of anything better to do, shoved themselves into his pockets. "That's one of my best friends we're talking about," he informed her with a particularly cold note in his voice that he was pretty damn proud of. "so if she's in  _any_  kind of danger, I need to know so I can protect her."


	11. Chapter 11

"...she  _left_? We weren't even gone twenty minutes!" Cheren glared down at the hastily scribbled note, complete with a little doodle of the girl's head and a peace sign next to it. His fingers shoved the red frames back up his nose a little more violently than usual as he reined in the urge to scream. Why,  _why_  did she always do this when things were just starting to take a turn for the worse? What part of  _don't go off alone_  didn't she understand? After the police had gone back to file the report, clearing the three of them to go back on their journey- they would 'be in touch' if they had any more questions- and he, Lenora and Bel had gone to go get something from the Pokemart for lunch.

Touko had  _supposedly_  gotten a headache from a combination of lack of sleep and the questioning, so she'd chosen to stay behind and catch a nap while they were out. Instead, she'd apparently waited until she couldn't hear them or see them anymore and had slipped out after writing that stupid note. "What part of 'we'll go together after lunch' wasn't clear? Honestly, she's so irrational when she gets emotional, she should just  _stay_  put like we told her to."

Lenora looked like she was torn between the urge to comfort the dark haired boy with a sharp tongue, and laughing herself to tears at the all too familiar frustration she'd often seen in young men his age.  _Now that's an age I sure as hell don't miss, done with all that hassle, thank you._  She chuckled despite her best efforts not to, earning herself an absolutely scathing look from the teenaged boy, and a worried one from the little blonde girl who was trying not to wring her hands together. "Sugar, bossing a girl like that around is gonna be about as successful as herding cats."

"...did you have to use such an overrated expression?" He grumbled, clutching the half-crumpled note tightly in his fist and tried to think. Where would she be going... and how hard could it be to catch up with her at this rate?  _Should have made Bel make her promise to stay with us._  Cheren thought in disgust, more towards himself for  _not_  thinking of it beforehand. He raked his free hand through his hair in aggravation, foot tapping as he tried to think of something,  _anything_  that could possibly be of help.

"Um... it's not like, you know, the police  _needed_  her for anything more," the green eyed girl offered timidly, knowing that her point would be less than happily acknowledged and flinched a little at the glower from the younger boy. "b-besides, this is  _Touko_  we're talking about... and, you know, she's  _really_  strong... I think she'll be okay." Bel finished, waiting for Cheren to shoot back a caustic response and bit her lip in preparation for it. Besides, it wasn't like Touko was in any danger or anything, the bad guys had been caught, even if they'd gotten beat up first by someone who'd probably seen them hurt another Pokemon.

"M-maybe it was a Pokemon who caused those injuries, you know? I mean, I totally saw like,  _four_  Sawks when I first got into town and went exploring on my own. Those guys probably made them mad and got beat up for it, so as long as she has Minny, she'll be totally fine." Deciding to brave whatever rude response that her friend might give, the curvy blonde shuffled over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She'll be okay, Cheren... but if you're like,  _really_  super worried about her? Why don't we meet her in Castelia?"

He didn't like the idea, and everyone in the room could see it. Lenora, feeling like she to take the cheerful little blonde's side on the matter, spoke up as well with a hand on her ample waist, her free hand pointing in a lecturing manner to the bespectacled boy. "Little miss Bel's got a point there. You'll catch up faster if you head straight to Castelia City- to Burgh's Gym, as a matter of fact." Seeing the sharp interest in his eyes, the teal haired archeologist smiled. "She's probably catching some of those ol' Bug Pokemon to fill out that Pokedex of hers and'll be heading in that direction. Go surprise her, why don't you? I'm sure she'll be delighted."  _If she doesn't end up in trouble along the way; anyone whose ballsy enough to go jumping a Gym Leader and threatening them isn't someone we wanna just ignore._

Especially when said person was threatening them  _because_  of that spunky little brunette.

Lenora half-tuned out the now squabbling couple in front of her, hiding a private, but troubled smile at their antics as she reread the text message sent by her old high school buddy. Casually dressed, long green hair, a particularly intimidating stare, and tall with a build almost as thin as his own; could be any number of people- and if those Team Plasma bastards could disguise their appearances with wigs and contacts, so could anyone associated with them. _Or any creep wanting to be left well enough alone and act like he's somebody else._ She frowned. Burgh was already on alert and had promised to pass the word on to Elesa. Presumably, it'd be one rather silly game of telephone amongst the Gym Leaders until all of them had been made aware of the potential danger and could call an official meeting to discuss it amongst themselves.

She just hoped that was sooner, rather than later.

_****** _

So... Cheren and Bel were totally worried.

Purrloin and Snivy too, neither of them were letting her put them back in their Pokeballs, instead riding on her shoulder, her head or draping themselves like oddly shaped scarves over her shoulders and neck. She even caught them exchanging matching worried-but-determined-crossed-with-stubborn looks with each other; and she hadn't even  _done_  anything worth _that_  kind of look!

Not that Touko could blame either of her human friends; the question and answer session with the police had been less than fun and she'd probably prefer going to the dentist again than go through that. And she  _hated_  going to the dentist more than anything on the planet. But, with as little as she'd seen and with as few clues as she'd been able to give them with said lack of information... the young teenager found herself frustrated, and at war with herself. Sure, she'd seen blood and freaked out about it... but it wasn't like she'd personally been hurt or anything.

But... Team Plasma, those two jerkwads... it wasn't like they deserved to get beaten up so bad they'd nearly died. Both of them had been wearing matching wigs in a shade of kinda red, kinda leaning towards strawberry blond, and blue contacts, carried no form of personal identification on them, and were refusing to cooperate any further with the police. Not that she'd been particularly surprised by that, and by the sound of it, neither were the officers in charge of them. They'd thanked her for the little assistance she'd been able to give them, and assured her they'd be in touch and to go out and 'enjoy the sunshine'.

Something told her that the length they spoke to Lenora at meant there was something more to the whole incident than she'd been let in on. Which, on one hand, she was grateful for. On the other? Why the hell didn't they just  _tell_  her all of it? She might be able to figure something out or offer... okay,  _nothing_  particularly helpful, but being left out of the loop still sucked.  _I found 'em, after all, why can't I know everything too?_  Her boot caught a rock, causing her to curse and stumble, trying to avoid falling on her face with an amused purple cat watching her from about two yards ahead. "Quit laughing at me, Purrloin," she ordered, trying not to laugh herself. "it's not funny!"

The cat made a trill-like sound that was a little  _too_  suspiciously close to what she imagined a cat's laughter would sound like and kept walking. The little jerk.

 _They get what they deserve after kicking Minny like that... and I think that's why I'm having a hard time with this whole stupid sitution. I don't want to be the person who thinks people deserve to get hurt, that's just..._  She sighed, long and deep, and looked up at the blue, blue sky above. Why was life so freaking complicated? All she'd wanted was to go on a cool adventure with her friends, that was all. Have some friendly competition, kick some major ass in Gym Battles... and stuff like that.

"I'm being stupid, just like stupid freaking Team Plasma." Touko muttered to herself and kicked a rock into a clump of bushes as she retraced her steps in Pinwheel Forest. "I need to just concentrate on my Pokemon, the Gym Battles and when Bel and Cheren are gonna ask for another battle." Purrloin hunched down, hind end in the air with his tail lashing back and forth as if prepared to chase after it as his trainer muttered to herself.

He froze in that position, causing the tall young woman to look back at him in surprise when she passed him. "...Purrloin?" Her voice did nothing to draw the feline back to attention, his big green eyes narrowed to small, angry looking slits as he growled low in his throat and the thick, luxurious fur standing on end. His attention was focused in the same direction the rock had gone.

Touko began to kneel down, reaching for the purple cat when he let out a yowl unlike any she'd heard from him and darted forward into the brush. "What's wro- Purrloin! Hey!" Snivy hissed in turn, soft brown eyes narrowing as he used one tiny clawed hand to pull at his trainer's ear. She rubbed her ear, giving the green snake Pokemon a scowl in response as she grabbed her gear and took off through the underbrush after him, saying the kinds of things that her mother would have grounded her for  _weeks_  over.

_****** _

"You freakin'  _pain in the ass_ ," Touko snarled to herself as something particularly sharp and nasty managed to smack against her bare legs as she tried navigating through the thick underbrush without pissing everything in a half mile radius off. "get back here or I swear I'm gonna,  _ow_ , give you ten ba-  _damn it_!" Her foot sank into an abandoned Patrat hole and sent her into a face-first fall into the moist, mossy ground. Snivy hopped off her shoulders before she hit the ground, hanging by a vine from a tree branch and made what she could have sworn was a 'tsk' sound.

"Seriously right now?" She demanded with a glare at the serpent Pokemon, pushing herself up and gingerly checking her ankle to make sure she hadn't tweaked it. Nope; no soreness, tingling or swelling that she could feel with the light to medium pressure she applied with her fingers. "Make that fifty baths," the blue eyed girl muttered sourly as she tentatively set weight down on her foot and walked a few careful steps. So far, so good, she could go back to chasing that darn cat. " _with_  pink and white frilly ribbons!" When she got done with him, he'd look like  _the_  freaking princess of Purrloin; and she didn't even care if he hated it.

 _I can see why some people prefer dogs now, they're less trouble and more obedient._  Touko thought to herself as Snivy resettled himself on her head, clutching her hat as she began picking her way through the underbrush. Wisely deciding to try and earn his way on to the sweeter side of her currently volatile temper, the little green snake Pokemon's vines whipped out and began moving the more offensive, potentially painful things out of the way for his trainer.

Especially the brambles; she had a habit of finding those with her legs at  _the_  worst time.

A yowl from somewhere to her right had her halting, halfway to straddling a fallen log so she could get over the thing. "There he is," she said, a mix of relief and annoyance in her voice as she swung her other leg over and landed awkwardly on the other side. "he'd better not be in trouble or I'm so upping it to a hundred freaking baths; with Nurse Joy approved floral shampoo at that!" She began picking a safe path through the area, as quickly as she could, and caught movement in the trees ahead. Blue eyes narrowed as she slowed down, cautiously approaching the little area she could see Purrloin in- intently looking up into said trees as he was.

 _...is that who I think it i- oh shit!_  Her eyes widened in panic as something  _not_  Purrloin jumped up and knocked N off balance as he'd reached for a tree branch above him. His grip slipped, fingers scrabbling for purchase, for something to hold on to in order to prevent himself from falling- and failed. Snivy hissed, calling sharply to the multitude of Bug types she hadn't even realized had been clustering, gathering around the area to watch the going-ons and whatever it was that kept making noise in their forest.

Snivy couldn't get him at this angle, and his vines, while helpful to someone light and not falling like a rock into water, were too flimsy and weak to support and grab someone out of mid-air like that.  _He can talk to Pokemon, I can't, but he's not asking for help, so I have to do_ something _._  Hopefully,  _just_  this once, they'd listen to what she said because of the desperation in her voice. "Sewaddle, Swadloon; use String Shot-  _now_!"

Much to her delighted relief, she watched as several sticky white threads shot forward from all over the clearing, aimed at him- and at the space between the ground and the tree trunks on either side of him. A sticky cocoon wrapped around him, held suspended between two trees in an odd sort of swing that made the young teenager remember the Joltik nests and webs she'd found once at her house about ten years ago. The yelp he'd let slip was the confirmation that he'd been caught, unexpectedly in his case, but that he was okay and hadn't hit the ground.

After a moment, there was the same kind of groan she'd heard Cheren make on many an occasion- especially when it came to something she and Bel had done that annoyed him, but he'd had no choice but to go along with it and help them anyways. Touko felt a smile slip on to her lips despite the annoyance she still felt, and stepped into the clearing to where he was. Her hands settled on her hips as she looked down at the older boy with an eyebrow raised.

He  _totally_  had some explaining to do, and why he'd been frantically trying to climb a tree was something she definitely wanted to hear. His expression suggested he knew it too, as he hung there with his baseball cap almost falling off. After a moment, he cleared his throat and spoke. "Uhh... hi."

Her amusement growing by the second, especially with his face fast turning the color of a tomato from hanging upside down like that, "Hi yourself," Touko replied with her smile growing  _just_  a little bit. Amusement sparkled in her eyes as she gave his awkward positioning a once over. "so, uhh, want some help?"  _She'd totally have to cut him some slack, because not just any_  guy could take a girl bursting into giggles when they were hanging upside down, were rather  _un_ cool at the moment, and had a probably recently hatched Sewaddle in their face with their little fangs wiggling in curiosity as the little Bug Pokemon checked him out.

His eyes uncrossed as he looked over at her, giving her a wry smile that was trying very, very hard  _not_  to be embarrassed. "Help would be  _great_ , if you don't mind."


	12. Chapter 12

"So... why were you in a tree, exactly?" Touko asked as she sawed at the sticky strands with the pocket knife she'd retrieved from her bag. It was slow progress on her part, considering that she kept having to wipe the blade off on her shorts every so often. Trying to keep a relatively straight face was more than a little difficult, as the Sewaddle kept crawling up to N's face and staring at him until the green haired guy was cross eyed trying to keep the Bug type in focus. "And don't tell me it's because you're afraid of Bug types," she continued as she managed to work one arm free and knelt to work on his feet. "because you're kinda, you know, face to face with one right now."

"Lost my way in the forest," he grunted after a moment, hand working to peel away the strands from his chest in hopes he could free his other arm. "figured I could find the way out if I climbed up higher." Fire would work best with the sticky threads, but would cause him unnecessary pain and would scare the Sewaddle away, and that wasn't acceptable. His eyes went to her as she helped him peel away sections of the silk threads. "Impressive work, by the way."

She flushed at the compliment, shaking her head to deny the compliment as she managed to get his other arm free- finally. "I totally didn't expect, like,  _half_  of the ones in the trees and bushes to do it too, you know." Embarrassment was thick in her voice as she reached down and began sawing at the lines keeping his legs bound. "But hey, all's well that ends well, right?" The whole studying her like she was a freakin' bug in a spider's web thing was kinda creeping her out, not that she'd say it because it'd be totally rude and all.

"It's definitely unusual for a normal Trainer," he replied, and the suspicious look she sent him from beneath her hat seemed to amuse him greatly. "but stranger things have happened before."

"You mean like grown men falling out of trees?" Touko retorted with an innocent looking grin.  _Serves you right for hinting that I'm not a normal trainer. Shoulda left you hanging, buddy._  She looked up again after freeing one leg and felt her teasing mood die a little at the look N gave her. Oh hell, had she crossed a line already?  _Damn it, Touko, he's not Bel or Cheren, for crying out loud. Watch it!_  "...sorry, bad joke." Continued sawing at the really thick threads between his ankles. Maybe Officer Jenny should think about pairing up with Sewaddle or other Bug types; they were  _killer_  at this whole tying up thing. "Warped sense of humor, that's all."

"No, it's true," she looked up to see him make a face. "grown men  _don't_  fall out of trees." A slight smile returned as she sawed through the remaining strands and stepped aside to let him finish picking the strands off and move. "It's supposed to be girls who fall out of trees, that way the grown men can catch them and say silly things."

 _...say what now_? She quirked an eyebrow at him as she began plucking the silk threads off of her clothing and out of her hair. "...I'm totally going to regret this, but what kind of 'silly things' are you talking about?" If it was anything like that one jerk on the soccer team's idea of a come on, she was gonna let him have it right there and then.

_****** _

Okay, maybe she wasn't regretting the whole asking thing after all.

 _Oh man, my stomach hurts. I haven't laughed this hard since Cheren found that magazine under Bel's bed._  Touko wiped away tears from her eyes and tried to keep down another giggle fit from exploding out. It really wasn't her fault, she hadn't expected to hear that old 'angels from heaven' line from someone who was so... well,  _weird_  and kind of out there like N. The scowl on his face and sulky look only made it worse for her, as she wound up laughing all the harder whenever he insisted it had worked before in the past, and was actually the way things were supposed to go. Angels falling from heaven, that was  _the_  cheesiest of pick up lines, whoever taught him that needed to get their butt kicked, she thought as another giggle slipped out before she could stop it.

"-and they believe it too!"

Suddenly, that reminded her a little too much of that one senior in their school who'd tried taking advantage of Bel. He'd said something similar in a particularly nasty voice about how easy she was to fool. Unlucky for him, she and Cheren had overheard and had delivered quite a bit of, in her opinion, justified punishment on her friend's behalf. Just the thought of it was enough to make her stop laughing and immediately reassess the tall man walking next to her. He  _was_  cute, probably along the lines of what she'd probably define as 'total hottie' if she talked it over with Bel, and there was that something about him, some quality that made him really attractive and appealing to her on a level she didn't quite understand.

" _All_  the girls, huh?" Touko shrugged, playing it cool for the time being as she knelt down to root through her bag. He'd been lost, so she might as well help him get back on the road and on their separate ways again. "Well, you're cute enough, I guess it shouldn't be all  _that_  much of a surprise." Maybe she should cool it and  _not_  jump to conclusions like she was starting to.  _Just because a lot of the guys you know are assholes, doesn't mean he's necessarily one too_. Even if the things N said wound up similar to what she'd heard before. Old habits died hard, she thought with an internal sigh.

"...what shouldn't be a surprise?" He asked, looking and sounding confused as she rose back to her feet. "That I'm cute?"

...seriously now? She stared at him, perplexed by his question.  _You're kidding me, right? You're totally screwing with me right now. Have to be. No one asks that and means it_. Yeah, he was totally screwing with her, definitely, she decided after a moment. If he wanted to play ignorant and dumb, she could deal with that for a little while longer. No big deal, she could play that game for a while. "You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you, N?" Touko asked finally as she studied the map and stuffed it back into the bag.

Time to get going before the going got too tough, there were things to catch, people to battle and a lot of things probably dropped around the forest for her to collect and use. She might even get to repay Cheren for those berries he'd collected for her.  _Where_  he'd gotten the damn things was something she was willing to pay money for, as she hadn't seen an Oran tree  _or_  a market selling them so far.  _Freaking jerk has a secret stash or a dealer! I'm gonna kill him for not sharing_. The idea of mercilessly, but lovingly, picking on her best friend until he grouchily gave into her demands did wonders to cheer her up.

It even kept her from being  _too_  annoyed that N had been following her the entire time with that same puzzled look on his face that he'd had, like, an hour or two ago.

"I don't get it." He broke his silence and stopped as she consulted her map again.

If she'd remembered right, there should have been something right around here she could dig up and use... "Don't get what?" She asked, distracted. That stupid spot  _had_  to be around here somewhere... maybe over that way a little more? Touko walked a few step and knelt, carefully searching with her fingers for any sign of something out of the ordinary. That stupid root had to be around there  _somewhere_ , or the mark Cheren'd put on her map was just meant to buy him more time to get ahead.  _If he's cheating again, I'm going to whoop him up one end of the street and down the other until we get back to Nuvema._ She'd do it too, she'd yelled at him and badgered him the whole way home when he'd cheated on a test back in middle school.

"What you said before, I don't get it."

Something in his voice prompted her to look at him, taking a swipe at her bangs as she did so to clear them from her eyes. Puzzled and more than a little confused, she went over their conversation in her head... and drew a blank. Figured, she was so caught up in what she was doing, as usual, she had a tendency to forget simple things like conversations. Wasn't the first time she'd done so either, and Bel would tease her in her usual sweet but merciless way about it if she was around. "S-sorry, I don't remember, what'd I say?"

"Well, you said I was cute, for one," N jumped on the chance to remind her, his voice sounding suspiciously pleased that she'd asked. "And when I asked if my being cute wasn't a surprise, you asked me if I was full of myself."

She nearly tripped, pausing as Purrloin regarded her with a look she swore was nothing but amusement for the moment he turned his attention away from the charcoal gray and red fox-like pokemon. "You're  _still_  thinking about that?" Seriously, the man was either ridiculously obsessed with anything that had to do with... himself, or something, or he was one of those people who just couldn't get sarcasm and worried about it.

"Well, yeah. What did you mean by that? I don't get it." He replied, looking more than a bit put out by the idea that she  _wasn't_  thinking about it.

Touko rubbed her forehead, wondering if all interactions with this guy were going to end up giving her the beginnings of a headache.  _This is like being stuck with Cheren while he's trying to think out loud during one of our study dates at his house. If he spoke out loud and paced back and forth? They'd be identical._  The idea of N and Cheren being so alike cheered her up and made her want to groan at the same time. On one hand, it meant she could handle him without a problem, even  _if_  her gut was still twisting and some kind of alarm was going off in her head. On the other... it meant she was going to have to get used to Cheren 2.0. "It's another way of someone asking if you think highly of yourself." She explained as patiently as she could, watching him carefully and looked for any sign of whatever it was that just put her on her guard around him. "Basically, I was kinda telling you that you're arrogant because you know you're good looking."

N's gaze, intense as it was, didn't leave her own. A subtle kind of challenge that mounted the tension forming between them further and further until Touko gave up, wanting to throw her hands in the air out of frustration. She broke eye contact with the tall, skinny man and muttered something uncomplimentary about the men she knew in her age group and life. "And because you're a ladykiller. There, alright? I said it."

Honestly, the day a girl couldn't keep her thoughts to herself was the day she needed to start looking for better people to hang out with. And he  _totally_  looked too damn pleased with himself for her to be alright with it. Though, to give herself some credit, she resisted the urge to glare at him  _too_  hard... right up until he'd decided he was going to continue those same ladykilling ways and picked her bag up like she wasn't capable of doing it herself.

"What the hell? Hey! Where are you going with my stuff- N!"  _Damn it._  She stomped after him, muttering an epithet or two under her breath that would have had her mother furious and marching her into the bathroom with a bar of soap in hand. "Come back here and give that back! There's nothing in there for guys like you!" Trying to prove her point, she grabbed the strap of the bag and pulled insistantly, planting her feet in the ground and prepared to out stubborn him the way she'd won pretty much  _all_  her battles with Cheren.

The smile on his face was getting more than a little annoying, even more so when the brunette realized he was enjoying the significant height difference between the two of them. "I can carry it for you," N told her with a note in his voice that made her want to smack him, or at the very least stomp on his toes or kick him in the shins like a grade schooler. "We're going in the same direction, after all. You get a free escort to make sure you get to your destination safely, it's the least I can do."

 _The least you can do is give me my stuff back_. She thought darkly, the expression clear on her face as she tugged again as he put the accursed thing over his shoulder. It was  _pink_ ; boys weren't supposed to like pink! It was  _the_  anti-boy thing to wear or be caught dead with! What the hell kind of man had an immunity to  _pink_? "You've gotta be kidding me," Touko bit out, trying to keep her cool. "I don't  _need_  an escort, I'm fine by myself!"  _It's why I took the journey, after all. It's about finding yourself and independence and all that other crap they preach to you as you grow closer to the journeying age!_

Another tug and she felt claws dig into her shoulders. The most pathetic mew she'd ever heard in her life coming from the purple cat on her shoulder as he stared at her with big, wounded looking green eyes. "...you okay, Purrloin?" She asked, worry evident in her face as she reached to scratch his ears and took him gently from her shoulders. Forget the stupid bag for the moment, she told herself, something might have been wrong with Purrloin and she needed to devote her attention to  _him_  first.

...and then she could kick that stupidly tall guy's butt and get her stuff back.

N's tone caused her to pause, to return her attention back to him with narrowed eyes. Purrloin resettled back on her shoulder the entire while as she examined the suddenly serious expression on his face. "I saw police in area earlier today, and they had a rather unhappy look on their faces while they patrolled."

Did he know?

Touko studied him, trying not to let the upset and unease show on her face at the reminder of what she'd seen. "I have my Pokemon," she informed him as quickly as she could string the words together without stumbling over them. "I'll be fine with them, and as long as I don't, you know, do anything stupid."  _Like chasing after Team Plasma jerkwads who take off with priceless fossils from museums._  She kept that part to herself, but the annoyance in her tone should make it more than clear that she was displeased with the conversation's direction. Maybe he'd buy a clue or six and quit acting like some guy from a classical romance novel or a cheesy romantic comedy. She wasn't Bel, after all, that kind of crap was  _so_ not her thing.

It was a pitiful thing to be feeling smug about, but the moment N closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose was a victorious one for the stubborn trainer. At least  _both_  of them were equally frustrated at the moment.

"Be that as it may," N started, the tone of his voice clearly showing he was trying his best to pick and choose his words very, very carefully at the risk of offending her further. "if they have Pokemon stronger than your own, it would mean big trouble." His stare fixed her, as it was the kind of deadset, stubborn kind of seriousness an adult usually had whenever the subject was closed, there would be no further discussion, so she might as well give up for the time being. "You're a smart girl, Touko, and I would hate to see you and your friends hurt because of a foolish mistake."

All of that had been well and good, 'cept she still found it just the  _slightest_  bit patronizing and it made her non-existent hackles raise in response, until that very last part. Something about that pierced through the pressure of her rising temper like an arrow through someone's knee.  _Killing Cheren for the joke, seriously, now I have that stupid voice in my head._ Touko replayed the words he'd said in her head again, not understanding just  _why_  that last part felt more like a threat than an actual concern. Blue eyes studied the tall form still holding her bag very carefully, back on her guard again as she tried to figure out  _why_  'danger' was screaming in her ears again.

He was skinnier than Cheren,  _probably_  hadn't taken the many self-defense courses she'd been through during her middle school years after an 'issue' popped up in the next town over, and would probably fall for the simplest of feint moves if she used one on him. ...probably. Touko's arms folded over her chest as she cocked her head to one side, trying to look uninterested while studying him.  _I need to reply carefully, I don't want him thinking he's got me where he wants me._  "You're speaking from experience, aren't you?" She asked finally, giving a shake of her head and pushed forward. He was, had to be if he was saying it like that. "That's why you won't drop it, am I right?"

It was his turn to look like he had to do some serious, careful thinking- something that both confirmed her theory  _and_  had her concerned about just what it was he had to think about so hard.

"I don't like talking about it," he finally answered, still speaking in that quick paced manner she'd come to expect from him. "but, yes. I do speak from a certain level of personal experience." He adjusted the bag on his shoulder and turned more towards the slim teenager. "So... how about it? Can I come with you?"

 _...why does this feel so much like a game?_  Touko wondered, puzzling over the sudden image of her head of the two of them on opposite sides of a checker board, or a chess board of some sort. If she didn't say yes, she'd never make good enough time to Castelia and would end up making Cheren and Bel worry. If she said yes... well, she'd be able to question him a little and see where his intentions  _really_  lay when they came to her. Not that she expected anything super serious or creepy or anything, but still.

She sighed heavily. Maybe she'd ask Cheren to slow the hell down and travel a while, or she'd ask Bel to travel with her. This guy didn't seem like the type to approach more than a single person at a time from what she saw. Heck, even when she'd first met him, he'd been talking to her directly, ignoring Cheren almost the entire time."I guess, but only for a little while though, okay?"  _I'll play it low key for a while, he knows I'm stubborn... but I don't think he knows I'll fight him if he tries anything._

He smiled at her, making her  _almost_  feel bad for the little plan she was forming in her head, and bowed in a way that she'd only seen in movies- complete with a sweeping arm gesture. "Of course, as milady wishes." He grinned all the more, the smile actually reaching the intense eyes of his and warming them for more than just a scant moment.

Her face flushed with color and she scowled as she walked a little  _too_  quickly to avoid being called out for her embarrassment.  _Seriously! I grew out of the princess phase when I was, like,_ six  _or something!_  Touko made a mental note to call her mother once she reached the Pokemon Center and  _profusely_  apologize for the princess phase she went through... and to ask her to  _burn_  the tapes and home recordings. But, since he was so... wrapped up in this little belief of his- his mother  _must_  have been a romance novel fanatic if he was this bad- she'd play along.

After all, sometimes playing the enemy's game was the best way to figure out their true intentions and what they were really up to.  _He wants a girl, I'll... well, I'll try and give him a girl. Bel'd be so much better at this than I am though._  But she wouldn't ever,  _ever_  risk her best friend to someone who's intentions made her a little wary. "Hey N?" She turned a little, keeping him in eye sight as she watched him school his face away from a frustrated one.  _Hah! Got you before you got me._

"Hm? Something wrong?" His tone of voice was fairly mild. She  _totally_  beat him to the conversation starter.

Touko shook her head. "No, just wanted to know if you wanted to play a game to pass the time."  _I have about a hundred questions for you, and you're gonna answer_ all _of them sooner or later._

N seemed to consider that, looking puzzled as he tried to think of a game that the two of them could play. She watched him finger the void cube he had and wondered if he was going to offer it to her and start a 'who can solve it faster' contest. ...she'd totally bet he'd beat her to solving it, she  _hated_  cube puzzles like that. She'd been the one to pretty much ruin Cheren's by peeling the stickers off and replacing them in order to win. "What kind of game?"

 _Game, set, and_ match _._  The brunette thought as she grinned at him deviously. He'd totally fallen for her trap, and now she was going to get what  _she_  wanted. "Twenty questions."

A pause.

"And  _I_  get to start us off."


	13. Chapter 13

Apparently playing question games was  _not_  on N's list of favorite things to do.

Touko felt her temper, and thus the headache that usually came along  _with_  said temper, start its slow boil once again the longer the game stretched out. She'd started off nice and sweet, very basic questions that he'd had one hell of a time answering. Each look he'd gotten with her questions had been similar, or the exact same, and she'd felt worse every time she opened her mouth.  _What kind of life has this guy lead until now? Seriously, who has to take five minutes to think of their favorite food?_ She'd gotten very little useful information, even with those basic questions. He liked foods that weren't too spicy or too sour, didn't go near any kind of alcohol or soda, didn't seem to care about colors but didn't care for black or red very much.

Even asking him why he wore  _green_  shoes instead of black or brown hadn't gotten an answer. He'd just bought the first pair that fit his feet and that was it. Hell, even his favorite sport had been a one-word answer, no elaboration or anything. Touko gritted her teeth. She'd always been known to love a good challenge, especially when it came to getting people to open up- she was  _good_  at that, all she had to do was be herself and be around, and people would do that on their own.

But, seriously, this guy was either incredibly dense, or he was being vague on purpose to make whatever game he was playing more 'exciting', or something. "Hide and Seek Tag, Cheren, Bel and I  _love_  that game, even if Bel's usually the one who's 'it' most of the time." Until she and Cheren would take pity on her and be caught, and then spend the next couple rounds trying to take the other down until Bel started wondering if they were going easy on her.

She blinked in surprise at N, the boy scowling as he realized he'd just unintentionally asked a question without thinking, hastily adding he didn't want it to count and not to answer it if she wanted to count it as one of his questions.  _Who doesn't know how to play hide and seek tag? I thought all kids learned that one._

He caught her off guard completely with his next question. "Why are you walking on the outside? I'm supposed to be in your spot."

In an instant, she couldn't help but display the quick flash of temper, feeling her blood heat and the glare on her face. She  _always_  walked on the outside of the street; it'd always been her thing to do when walking with her friends. The person closest to the street was the one people usually tried to grab- and she wasn't going to let them grab Bel, who'd always been super trusting,  _or_  Cheren, who'd been really sickly as a little boy growing up. She'd always been the tallest and healthiest of the group, and the strongest too, actually. So she'd always been the one on the 'outside' keeping those close to her safe. It wasn't- oh.

...she'd gone on the mega-defensive side of things again. Oops.

 _Remember, he knows you about as well as you know the Champion of Unova._ She sighed again, trying to find the right words and gave him a sideways look. Well... let's see how he felt about a more indepth answer. People kind of freaked out when she said things like what she was about to, freaked and got pissed, usually because she was right and they didn't like it.  _Mom had me tested though, I'm not psychic. Not that the one who tested me saw, anyway._  "I didn't even think about it until you said something," and gave him a bit of a smile before kicking a wedge of rock on the ground to send it skipping. Four skips, not bad, not great either. "but... I just have this feeling you're  _always_  on the outside, so I put myself there so you didn't have to be."

_****** _

And that had unleashed one hell of an argument, Toujo realized as she and N stood at the entrance of the bridge, her hands on her hips and voice raised as the debate waged on. "Look, I've got the barrier of the bridge I could get knocked over on one side,  _and_  another barrier separating me from the freakin' traffic; the only way to keep me safe from both would be to put me in a Poke Ball or carry me- and don't  _even_  think about it, I saw that look!"

He didn't even bother to hide the fact that he'd liked the idea of being able to put someone in a Poke Ball, even if he'd previously shown his disdain for them when it came to Pokemon. Although, she didn't know it was that or the whole carrying aspect that appealed more. Either way,  _not_  happening and the look on her face  _should_  get that message across if he was half as smart as he thought he was. "It's a gentleman's duty to walk on the  _outside_  when there is a young woman involved," N told her, tone testy and like he too was on the verge of losing whatever amount of patience he had with her. "so let me do what I was raised to do, and you can ask me more questions."

Did he really think bribery was going to work on  _her_? Better men than he had tried, and she'd sent them packing with ringing ears. She drew up to her full height, admittedly not as impressive when her opponent in this debate was six inches or so taller than she was."It's not the middle ages, N," she was so not backing down on this. Not a chance. "I'm a big girl, and can walk on the outside  _just_  the same as you can. So just deal with it and let's  _go_  before it gets cold."  _If I end up with a cold, I'm totally siccing Cheren on you, and it'd serve you right. He's insufferable when he's right._

N drew himself to his full height as well, much to her annoyance, and looked down at her in a way she supposed would have been more intimidating had she not been the biggest tomboy to ever run the school she'd attended. "I don't want to force you, it will make me feel bad and it's not something I will like." His voice was almost as stern as it had been back in the forest,  _almost_. "But if you continue to argue with me, you'll leave me with no choice."

Defiance was definitely one of her bad points, Touko thought to herself as her mouth opened and the words slipped out before she had a chance to reevaluate and try a different approach. "Oh  _really_ , and what're you gonna do, huh?"

His chin lifted, setting in a way she decided was stubborn. "I'll shut you up, and seeing as you're a smart girl, I'm sure you could think of a few ways I could possibly do it too."

She couldn't help it. Her jaw dropped in response and, for the moment, she couldn't find the right words to express her indignant shock. Seriously... did he  _seriously_  just say that? And leaving it to her imagination too? Freaking  _jerk_  face of all jerk faces-  _and_  he just grabbed her hand and dragged her along like the whole conversaton hadn't even happened!  _I can't believe this. Actually, wait, no, I can. Because the only thing_ worse _would be if Cheren and Bel had heard, and they'd try using it on me to win arguments too_.

Touko was still somewhat sulking- and she would  _not_  admit to sulking either, thank you- when N broke the silence, still rather pleased with himself by the cheerful sound of his voice. "Say, Touko. Would you ever think about joining Team Plasma?" He smiled more at the shock on her face, as if pleased by her response. "That's one of my big questions," the green haired trainer explained after a moment's thought. "want me to ask you more before you answer that one? That way you have a choice of which you want to answer first?"

 _Join... are you seriously?_  Her thoughts weren't even able to comprehend that question, and he took her silence as a message to continue asking questions. "What's your goal in your journey? Does everyone in your family become Pokemon Trainers or are you the first? Are you going to be a Trainer or are you looking at another kind of occupation?" His expression was happier than she'd seen since she'd known him, admittedly not long when she added the number of hours together, but still.

Touko gritted her teeth and began answering them, as appropriate since she'd been trying to grill  _him_  the entire time. Maybe answering them would make him open up more. Give him a taste of his own medicine, so to speak. "I haven't thought much about it, or if I just want to be a regular Trainer or go for a Gym Leader position." A pause, and she  _knew_  her anger showed as she answered the one she'd skipped over. "My mother used to be a Trainer. She had to stop when she had me. My father's only home three times a year."

 _Well_ excuse me _for not having satisfactory answers._  She thought at N, watching the expression on his face grow darker with impatience and unhappiness with each answer she gave. _Sucks when people don't do things the way you want them to, doesn't it?_  "As for the Team Plasma thing..." Touko took the opportunity to go silent and drag it out for a while. Did she want to be a jerk about it and bluntly throw out everything she thought was wrong about them? N seemed like he was interested in Team Plasma, and liked what they had to say for the most part.

He coughed a little, to reminder her that she still hadn't answered when they'd hit the halfway mark over the bridge. Even without the reminder, she'd managed to figure out something to say that wasn't a total lie, but wasn't the exact truth either. "I don't know enough about 'em to have an opinion one way or another." Which was true, she  _didn't_  know much about them that wasn't hearsay or the two guys who'd... well, enough thinking about them, the less she thought about them, the better. "So... sorry, I can't answeer that one right now. Maybe some other time, okay?"

N looked disappointed that she hadn't given him an answer, but he seemed to understand, almost... relieved in a way. "Another time." He agreed and walked along with her in complete silence. She hadn't forgotten his sassy little way of making her walk on the inside, but she'd let it go, for now anyway. Until she had something she could use to turn the tables, and he was asking better questions- ones  _she_  could flip back on him if given the chance. "...Touko,"

So lost in thought and figuring out which questions she wanted to ask first, the brunette hadn't realized that she was the only one walking and stopped, turning in place to look back at him. "N?" Concerned, she hadn't offended him or hurt his feelings, had she? Or had she missed a question and he thought she was refusing to answer it? "Are you okay?" Had to ask, the nervous look on his face suggested a question that he  _really_  didn't want to ask, or wasn't sure he should ask.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to ask you a really important question." He replied carefully, his expression souring as whatever he saw on her face didn't make him happy in the least as he jogged forward to catch up with her. The entire time he moved, she didn't look away once, and his expression turned more and more nervous the closer he got.

 _...nine inches shorter and I still make you nervous. Good. You should be._  She found herself thinking without any good reason behind it. Ugh, stupid gut instincts, they always wound up so vague and  _not_  helpful until the worst was about to happen. "What question is that?" Her voice had dropped, softened a little to see if she could lure him back into a sense of security, false or otherwise. If it was a serious, and genuinely important question, she'd give it an equally important, and serious, answer.

N swallowed hard, hand automatically going to the void cube on the chain as he fiddled with it anxiously. It took him a long moment to muster the words, and another equally long moment to finally ask the question in a way that he found appropriate. "Which would you choose; the truth or a dream?"

Touko couldn't help but look stricken by the question. No one had ever asked her something like that before, and it was going to take a  _lot_  longer than just a moment to actually be able to answer it if it were that important that he'd worked himself up about asking her. She didn't say anything to him, even when he got too close for comfort. Close enough she thought she could hear and see his heart beating through his clothing. Close enough that she could feel the heat of his body radiating toward her, crowding  _her_  space. Didn't mind when the only thing he did was stare down at her with those crazily intense eyes that felt more like they were looking  _through_  and inside her than at her.

It felt like forever before she finally came up with an answer, the  _actual_  honest answer instead of one she wanted to say just to see the look on his face. And the look on his face as it was only seemed to cement her decision to be completely honest; he was dreading the response, had apparently gotten some sort of answer already planned in his head for what she was going to say, and was clearly hoping she was going to say the right thing.

Touko couldn't guarantee that.

"Truth." She replied finally, her voice strong, calm and perfectly clear. It was odd that she felt so at peace when giving the answer, maybe it was because she was being perfectly honest and thus didn't have to feel bad.

Maybe, just maybe, it was because she genuinely believed in her answer was the right one from the bottom of her heart.


	14. Chapter 14

"Well  _excuse me_  for not giving the right answer!" Touko snapped at N, irritated with the blatant disbelief and surprise he'd shown at her answer. It was sort of irrational, sure, but seriously. He'd asked her a serious question, so she'd given him a serious answer- only for him  _not_  to take her seriously at all! She was totally entitled to being a little pissed about that, in her very honest and totally  _not_  biased opinion.

He appeared to realize he'd offended her in some way, hands held up as if to placate her. "I'm just curious, every other girl I've talked to has chosen her dreams instead of the truth. I want to know why you're choosing differently, that's all." He had more than a touch of defensiveness in his voice too as he pleaded his reasoning.

The two of them stared each other down again, once again Touko being the first to break the silence- but refused to break eye contact. Her blue eyes were fiery, blazing with restrained temper and the strength born from someone naturally able to fight and defend their beliefs to the bitterest of ends. "I'll tell you on one condition," she told him as she knelt down, replacing her boots with a pair of shoes she always kept with her. Quickly tying the laces with a last, hard pull and double knotting just to be on the safe side, the brunette turn her attention back up, expression suddenly so different she figured he probably thought she had issues with her moods swinging back and forth. "sound like a deal?"

She'd get a sense of how seriously  _he_  wanted that answer by making him run against her. He'd have to race her, she'd be able to tell a little more about him from just how seriously he took her as an opponent in  _that_.

...well, and she'd always wanted to run a race across this bridge.

Which, really, was the actual reason why she'd decided to stop being pissed off about his weird responses to her answers and questions. Couldn't be pissed off when she was about to scratch something off of her bucket list of things to do in life, after all.

"Depends on the condition," N countered, giving her a suspicious look. "what do you want from me?"

 _Got you now._  She thought to herself and rose to her feet, pointing quite rudely at the taller boy. "Race me; right here, right now." A Poke Ball flashed, Snivy appearing on her shoulder as Purrloin leaped up to the opposite shoulder with a questioning trill in the Grass type's direction. "You won't give me my bag back, so I have to make it fair." The blue eyed trainer gestured to the two Pokemon on her shoulders. "Snivy and Purrloin should be about the same weight as my bag and Zorua combined."

Apparently the idea of people playing fair is a foreign one to him, she thought to herself with a frown. What kind of life had he been living? Touko found herself wondering once again, that feeling of something being not quite right resurfacing.

"Hmm, what about this?" He'd fished around in a pouch and found where she kept her Poke Balls, tapping it against the bag to absorb it into the device as temporary storage. N gave her a smile, clearly finding himself a genius for thinking of it. N's Zorua popped his head out from beneath his trainer's long hair, looking between him and Touko with a suspicious look in his aqua eyes. "That way you don't have to worry so much, and Snivy or Purrloin can choose to sit out if they'd like."

After what seemed to be a lengthy argument between her Pokemon, much to her amusement and what seemed to be N's concern, Snivy retreated into his Poke Ball with a pointed glare in the man's direction, as if stating he was going to be keeping an eye on him. N chuckled weakly, a case of nerves clear to the long legged girl who was busy stretching with Purrloin draped around her shoulders. "Looks like you and Purrloin versus me and Zorua." He paused while she warmed up, watching her in a way that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "Shall we say dinner is on the one who loses?" The older boy quickly spoke, correcting himself at the surprised look on her face. "I mean, as the prize. After all, we're almost to Castelia, and they have a  _lot_  of neat places to eat. Nothing expensive, I promise."

 _...so I beat him in a race, get my questions answered, get an inside look into the kind of person he is, get to race across this bridge like I've wanted to since I was, like, eight,_ and _he's gonna buy me dinner._  Touko pretended to consider it, unable to stop the smile from creeping across her face. Poor bastard, he had no clue what he was getting into by agreeing to this,  _and_  by upping the ante as well. She almost wanted to throw the race just to make it a little more fair.

Almost.

"You're on!" She agreed, trying not to look as smug and victorious as she was feeling, getting into position as Zorua and Purrloin growled at each other and settled themselves on their respective person's shoulder.

_****** _

"You wanted to know the reason I said 'truth', right?" Touko asked as they headed into the city, descending the winding stairwell down from the bridge. Her cheeks were pink from energy spent and her eyes sparkled with still lingering pride and laughter from her win. She'd promised to tell him, after all, and she was going to keep her promise the same way he'd apparently intended to keep hers. Her fingers toyed with the zipper on her vest as she felt his attention snap immediately away from the ocean and back to her.  _Well,_ that _certainly got your attention._

"Yes, yes I do." N replied, as quickly spoken as usual. She was starting to find it kind of endearing, rather than annoying and hard to keep up with as she had initially. "But first," he told her as he passed her by, longer legs than her own eating the stairs by twos, even threes with small jumps as he looked up at her from the bottom of the stair and held a hand out to her. "allow me to escort you, my lady of victory."

Still playing the part of the romance novel hero, she thought with a sigh and a laugh. She couldn't help but laugh, she was in too good of a mood to let his weird behavior do anything more than amuse her now. Later, while she showered, she would probably brood upon it and start trying to form theories behind his behavior.  _Maybe he's a theater student and is super into playing certain roles? That might explain it, actors always use the world as their stage, after all_. "You're really full of it, N, but it's kind of cute in a weird way." Touko laughed again, shaking her head as she allowed him to guide her down the steps as if she were a member of royalty. "Did your father teach you this or something?" Maybe she'd get a good answer out of that, a story of how his mother would read him books or something like that.

"No, he's not the type who would do this." N replied, his expression distant, closed off as he paused in thought, perhaps remembering something he'd not wanted to. She felt bad, maybe his father was as sore and touchy a subject as her own. He shook his head, smiling at her again in the way that made her cheeks burn with color. Honestly, a smile like that should've been illegal. "But that's not important," he told her. "making sure  _you_  have food in your stomach is much higher of a priority. You can tell me your answer while we wait."

**_**_ **

Orders placed and conversation light, for the moment, Touko took the opportunity to once again study N while he people-watched and looked around the restaurant they'd stepped into. Tall and lanky, though definitely stronger than he appeared to be, she couldn't tell if his hair was naturally wavy bordering on curly or if it was just  _that_  tangled because he didn't seem to bother with it much. His skin was on the pale side, like he spent more time indoors than outside, and he had shadows beneath his eyes that  _weren't_  just from his baseball cap or the lighting in the building.  _Alright, if you and I are on a chessboard, which color would you be?_  She paused in her thinking.  _For that matter, what_ piece _are you?_

"Are you ready to give me that answer? Or shall we wait for the food to get here?" N asked softly, startling her out of her train of thought. His hands were folded in front of him, resting against his mouth as he regarded her quietly from his side of the table.

Apparently she wasn't the only one doing some studying, Touko thought and resisted the urge to feel self-conscious beneath his scrutiny. "Ready when you are," she tried to make a slight joke out of it, watching as he seemed to settled a little further in his chair and leaned forward, both elbows on the table as he waited. "Alright." Her gaze dropped to her hands, folded in front of her on the table as they were, thumbs idly twiddling together as she tried to find the appropriate words to explain her answer in a way that wasn't just 'because that's how I feel.' She took a deep breath and raised her gaze back to N's, and went for it.

He looked troubled at her explanation, simple as it was, and looked like he wanted to debate the subject with her- but abstained from doing so. "The truth doesn't lie; not like dreams do." N repeated quietly as their food arrived, paying little attention as Touko attempted to hide her embarrassment by turning her attention to the food on her plate. She liked the way he summed it up, it was simpler than her five minute long mini-rant on why the truth was always better than any dream could be, even if dreams were easier to deal with in the long run because they were the 'what ifs' and ideal visions of the future.

N quickly changed the subject, questioning her further on happier subjects, primarily her childhood with Cheren and Bel, and seemed rather interested in the stories she shared. His expression quickly turned to one of distaste when she began to launch into her favorite one of Cheren, causing her to stop in mid-sentence.

"...let me guess, you've met Cheren?" Touko asked, trying not to sound half as exasperated with her friend as she felt. He was a sweet guy, really, he was. But that know-it-all, always right and blunt as a Hi Jump Kick to the face side of him just... put people off. Permanently, most of the time.  _Cheren, you idiot, what're you gonna do if Bel and I move away?_ She took the half-crumpled photo back from N, sighing and scratching her head beneath the cap she wore. "Look, whatever he said to you, I promise he didn't mean it to be nearly as insulting as it probably was." And there she went again, pleading on her friend's behalf for someone else  _not_  to be forever pissed at him because Cheren didn't know the meaning of tact even when it hit  _him_  in the face.

Judging by the look on her dinner partner's face, that much had been made more than clear, and the skepticism was more than she could stand. Whatever Cheren had said, it  _had_ been as insulting as it'd come out, or even worse than she was thinking.

She started to bury her face in her hands, mortified on behalf of the other girl in their little trio and herself as well.  _Oh my god, Cheren, seriously? What did you say?_ "I'm going to  _kill_ him when I get my hands on hi- huh?" Her attention was snatched by a familiar buzz on her wrist, a cheerful, short chime following immediately after it to let her know someone was trying to contact her. "Oh geez, sorry, I gotta take this... do you mind?" Remembering her mother's lectures, Touko looked to N, seeing if the older boy would care all that much.

He shook his head, giving her a light, though distracted smile. "After the amount of time you spent telling me how important your friend is? Go ahead, I don't mind at all."

She watched him rise and head for the bathroom, blue eyes following him the entire time until he disappeared from sight. Touko worried her bottom lip a moment with her teeth, a whirlwind of thoughts keeping her distracted until the insistent buzzing on her wrist brought her back to the real world.  _He didn't have to leave._  He probably thought he was just being polite, Touko thought as she pressed a button on the side of the Xtransceiver. Her best friend's face popped up, flushed and worried as she adjusted the green beret on her head in a nervous habit.

"Hey Bel, what's up?"


	15. Chapter 15

"Get back here, you son of a  _bitch_!" Touko snarled, vaulting over the park bench as she chased down the Team Plasma grunt who'd once again stolen Bel's beloved Pokemon. When she got her hands on this guy, he was going to pay for making her friend cry. Her breath came in short, sharp bursts as she put on a burst of speed, tearing around the corner to see no one in sight.  _No way, there's no way in hell that they're_ that _fast._

The end of the day, the brunette decided, was nothing more than a gigantic pile of suck in a glass. Bel had kept her for a lot longer than she'd thought on the phone, and then she'd realized N wasn't coming back when the server took pity on her rather confused self and told her that he'd been called away on a 'family matter', and that the meal had been paid for in full.

Not only that, but when she'd gone to meet up with Bel, she'd been met by a sobbing blonde and a pissed off little girl with purple hair who'd said Team Plasma had stolen Bel's Munna. She'd managed to turn around in time to see someone chasing after a member of said team of thieves, and had started to after them before Bel'd thrown her arms around her and started crying into her shoulder. Bel had wanted to come, sobbing as she'd clung to her arm and begged her to let her come too, to find them together. The kid who'd popped up just as she'd started to forget the girl'd been there, pissed off as well, had volunteered to be Bel's bodyguard and to accompany her.

Cute little girl, but she doubted an eleven year old should've been by herself running around in Castelia. She'd done a good job at distracting the blonde though, and that'd given Touko time to slip off and chase after the person responsible.

Blue eyes scanned the area, looking for places he could have hidden. She stomped her foot in a display of temper. She'd lost him, he'd gone down one of the three streets while she'd been busy trying  _not_  to trip over a stupid trashbin in the alley. Who left their trash on the side like that? Really, not okay. Three streets, think, she thought to herself. Three streets, he went down one of them.  _This way_ , she decided, heading for the furthest street to her left. Jogging down, she kept a sharp eye and ear out, pausing a moment as she found herself in front of the Pokemon Gym.

 _Damn it, they're not Team Rocket. There's no way they'd try hiding_ in _a Gym._  It's what she'd have done, actually, come to think of it. Last place the enemy would ever think of going when chasing them down, especially when they made such a big deal about Gym Leaders being the root of all evil, or something like that. She hissed softly under her breath and turned to head back to see if anyone else had found anything, and to check a few other areas on her way.

Chain clinking caught her attention. She looked around for the sound- and saw someone in a Plasma uniform sneaking through a door right across the street.  _Got you now, you bastards. I'll get back Munna,_ and _all the other Pokemon I imagine you stole._  Tightening her ponytail back up with a quick tug, the sixteen year old stormed directly for the door- and was caught before she could grab the handle. Resisting the urge to shriek, Touko whirled, hating that she put her back where Team Plasma might be able to get her, and threw a wild punch.

"Whoa!" A familiar voice yelped, dodging the blow by inches and grabbed her arm to prevent another attempt. Curly brown hair fell into a narrow, though artistically handsome face as his green eyes shone with a mix of amusement and cautious respect. "It's me, Burgh, remember me? I'm the Gym Leader here?"

"Don't  _do_  that," Touko finally managed, trying to tug her arm free. "I thought you were one of  _them_ , I could've hurt you!" Her heart was pounding in her chest, pounding in her ears hard enough that she thought it'd deafen her if it grew any louder than that.

He gave her a kind smile, though troubled as he looked to the glass entrance. "Sorry, I was chasing after Team Plasma myself, I guess Iris didn't get a chance to tell you." The Bug type lover sighed, not at all liking what the situation had come to. Bad enough that he'd been prepared to go in and take the members in the building into custody, even  _worse_  that he'd been so ignorant of the going-ons in his own city that they'd managed to set up a temporary base right under his own nose. But worse still? Was that Touko was once again involved in this whole Team Plasma business, and with the warning that leader of Team Plasma had given him still ringing fresh in his ears?

Nothing good was going to come of this.

 _Not that I, a Gym Leader, can let myself get scared off by a threat from this lot. Especially not when they're taking vested interest in a young Trainer. It's our job as Gym Leaders to protect our people, and the Elite Four's job to protect the region if the Gym Leaders can't handle something. I don't want Alder getting involved if he doesn't have to._  Burgh thought to himself and watched the agitation mounting in the teenager's body language.  _Like a praying mantis preparing to strike its victim._  The mental image amused him greatly, though the smile on his face turned forced. "This is definitely the place, don't suppose you'd be willing to let me take care of it?"

The glare she shot him was impressive, and he resisted the urge to laugh.

"Didn't think so. As it is, looks like our only option is to battle them and go in." A pause, he really,  _really_  didn't want her getting anymore involved than she was already. "You ready?"

"Definitely." She ground out from between clenched teeth. "I'm  _sick_  of these guys making Bel cry, it's time to take them down for good."

_****** _

Burgh stood outside his Gym, watching the trio head for the Pokemon Center. Iris and Touko were feeding off each other's annoyance at having to let Team Plasma go, and Bel was clinging to her best friend like he'd done to Lenora back in the good old days, holding her Munna close to her the entire time. He didn't approve of this, didn't approve of it at all and he'd placed a call to Elesa to warn her. Sure, the silly wench was booked solid with modeling gigs and shows in between her scheduled Gym Leader challenges, but she had a surprisingly sharp eye on her city.

An eye he was going to have to train himself. Art was going to have to be put to the side for a little while, as much as he hated to admit it after such a burst of inspiration had hit while battling Team Plasma once again. They were going to return tomorrow, prepared to battle him for his Badge, and he already knew that Touko, at the very least, would be successful in her fight against him. No stopping a will that strong, no sir.

But...

" _Stay_ away _from that girl; she is able to be purified from the taint_ you _Gym Leaders and Professors enjoy spreading."_

He ran a hand through his hair, making a face when he hit a snarl and carefully untangled it. Ghetsis was trouble.  _More_  than trouble, the man was  _T-R-O-U-B-L-E_  in all capital letters, and the way his eyes had focused on Touko practically the entire time hadn't comforted him any less. "That man's a devil if I ever saw one," Burgh muttered, feeling the skin on his arms and legs prickle with goosebumps. "dead inside and just on this side of  _not_  quite crazy." He'd stolen that one from Lenora, as she'd used that with an ex-boyfriend of his to describe the feeling she'd gotten from just looking at him.

...he wondered if Iris would be willing to extend her bodyguard services for just a little longer, the little Dragon trainer was pint sized, sure, but her way with the Dragon type Pokemon was uncanny, and unmatched by many. Even Drayden had confessed that he may not be Gym Leader much longer if her power continued to grow.  _What was it he called her... the next Lance? Something like that. Thankfully, she_ so _has better taste than Lance of Kanto and Johto. Capes are so fifteen years ago._

The curly haired Gym Leader headed into his Gym. He had a long night ahead of him, and he doubted sleep was going to even factor in for longer than an hour or two before he needed to reopen it for battles.  _Let's see, got Elesa out of the way, she was the most important to warn, and she'll pass the message along to Skyla for sure, probably Clay if she can tolerate him for longer than ten seconds._ He had to be the one to update Lenora, and she'd get herself in a right snit as a result. He opened his phone, still resisting the use of Xtransceivers for the time being, and tapped her name, waiting for the woman to pick up.

"Len?" He sang into the receiver in the way he knew would just put a Combee in her bonnet, sure enough, it worked and a breathless, irritated, but laughing Lenora was on the other end of the line, demanding to know what in the name of... something, he couldn't quite make that part out, that he wanted. "Oh honey, you didn't have to run just for  _me_ , I'm not that mean to you." Burgh teased with the first genuine smile that'd come on his face in the last few hours. "Hey, I have an update for you, and you might wanna sit down for this one, it's not going to be pretty."

_****** _

Touko stared out the window, watching the restless city moving about even in the middle of the night. Bel's eyes were still red, swollen from all the crying she'd done up until she'd worn herself out and had fallen asleep. She looked away from the city, down to the worry still lingering on her best friend's sleeping face, Minnie, her Munna, curled up beside her with a small tendril of pink smoke drifting out of the spot on her snout. One of the chubby girl's arms was wrapped around the Pokemon, holding it to her chest like a favored stuffed animal, the other was wrapped limply around her own waist, her thigh being used as a makeshift pillow.

"You're thinkin' about Team Plasma, aren't you?"

Blue eyes moved away from Bel's sleeping face to the long haired girl sitting cross legged on the bed, her Axew Pokedoll in her lap. With her hair down, the dark skinned trainer looked like she was about eight instead of eleven. There was a knowing look on her face, however, and there was a shrewd expression in her eyes that suggested she could read a person's heart better than people thought she could. "Yeah." She answered finally, looking unhappy with herself for it. "Can't-"

"Can't let it go, right?" Iris interrupted, jumping into the problem. She nodded, hugging her doll tightly as she scowled. "Me either, those people are so totally  _not_  good. I mean, that's obvious that they're no good, but still. There's no good and there's  _not_  good, you know?" Brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully, watching the older girl return her frustrated gaze back out to the city.  _She's looking for 'em, betcha if she sees one, she'll be running out there faster than a Ponyta._

For a girl who didn't have all her badges, this Touko was definitely a piece of work. Her dragons liked her, and when her dragons liked someone, Iris had a tendency to like them too. Dragons could read the hearts of people, after all, they knew what was inside a person at all times and whether or not they were trustworthy, or if they were dangerous and needed to be gotten rid of.  _I wonder if Drayden'll see her potential too. He communicates with Dragons almost as good as me._  Her mentor was gonna be upset though, once she told him about Team Plasma, and she was probably gonna get scolded for pretending she was bigger and stronger than she actually was as a person.

But she'd just challenge him to a Gym Match and prove that she was totally cool and able to be a good bodyguard. People didn't like messing with dragons, and she was  _the_  person to use 'em, if there was anyone ever born to do so in Unova. "It'll be okay," she tried again to get Touko to talk more to her, see if she could get the girl to open up  _her_  heart like a dragon would. "I mean, Burgh's no slouch once he's on to something. He's probably gonna be up late telling everyone else what happened, and the police'll be out more too."

Touko nodded absently, looking back down to Bel, her hand balling into a fist as she clenched her jaw and glared back out the window. "Yeah." She replied again, her tone strained.

Iris frowned. "There was nothin' you could've done, you know? I mean, it wasn't like she just handed those Plasma jerks her Munna. They ganged up on her before we could do anything and just took off." She shifted her weight a little, leaning forward as she watched the girl's expression darken, turn thunderous. "She's okay now, Minnie's back and that's what matters, right?" The Dragon trainer used Bel's own words, seeing how the brunette would respond to them.

"That's  _not_  what matters to me," the girl bit out. "sure, I'm glad she got Minnie back, but it  _never_  should have happened to begin with."  _And why is Bel being targeted? Does Team Plasma want her for something? Are Bel's Pokemon special somehow?_  She froze, a sick feeling rising in her stomach as she looked back down at her friend. Maybe... Maybe Bel was like those people she'd seen on the television, the ones who could make Pokemon super trusting when they were scared of humans, like that one girl from Orre.  _If that's true... she doesn't know she can do that, she's not aware of what she can do and_ they _are._

No wonder she kept running into them, they were chasing after Bel, kidnapping her Pokemon to try and make her join them.

 _Wait, that doesn't make sense. They stole that little kid's Pokemon too, and they kicked Minnie trying to get the smoke out of her._ Damn, she thought she'd been on to something, should have known it wouldn't be that easy. She sighed heavily, leaning her head against the cool glass and felt herself brooding. She  _hated_  brooding, it wasn't the kind of thing she just  _did_. Action, taking action and solving the problem,  _that's_  what she did. "Hey," Touko spoke after a long moment of consideration. "Iris?"

"What's up?" The purple haired trainer immediately jumped on the girl's question, eager to hear what was on the older girl's mind. "Got something to say?"

"Yeah, you busy for the next... little while?"

Iris blinked, thinking about it. She wasn't supposed to meet up with Drayden for another three or four days, at least, and could always call and let him know she'd be late to the meeting place again. Especially if it was something super important like this was starting to feel. "Nope, what's up? You wanna team up or something, go kick some Team Plasma butt?" Her eyes glinted at the thought of delivering some payback. "Especially that old guy and his flunkies with him, you know, the ones dressed all weird? I mean,  _ew_ ; who stares like that at a girl? That's super creepy, you know!"

Touko had been trying  _not_  to think about the way that red eyed man had been watching  _her_  the entire time the confrontation had gone on. "Actually, I wanted to know if you'd keep being Bel's bodyguard, at least until Nimbasa." Again, she turned away from the window. "She's, you know, mega comfortable around you. If she wasn't, she'd still be awake right now." Giving away a secret like that about her best friend felt wrong on  _so_  many levels, but she didn't know how else to convince Iris to do it.

A frown. "Why can't you travel with her? You're her friend, right?" Not that Iris would say no to the task, she liked Bel a lot. The blonde was the kind of girl she always imagined herself rescuing on the back of a mighty dragon, saving them from some evil jerk like that creepy old man or from a bunch of wild Pokemon. The latter of the two was the most likely to happen, if she thought about it, but still; Bel was  _totally_  Damsel in Distress material.  _And I need to quit watching old movies. They're gonna rot my brain out._ But something just seemed weird about the request.

Apparently the question was a touchy subject, as a pair of furious, clear blue eyes glared at her from the other side of the room. "Of  _course_ , she's one of my  _best_  friends, thanks. But I have to go find Cheren and let him know what happened, and to do  _that_ , I need to-"

"Move quickly, gotcha." Iris finished for her, much to the older girl's annoyance. The dark skinned girl nodded after a long moment and smiled. "Yeah, she's not  _the_  fastest person on the planet, so I see why you're asking someone else to do it." She scratched her head, thinking to herself. "Nimbasa's not  _that_  far, not if you stick to the roads, though I'd definitely get Burgh's badge before you head out." Something told her that Touko'd already thought of that, though. "You gonna let her just sleep on you like that?"

A slight smile, first one she'd seen the whole time since the brunette had gone tearing off after Team Plasma to begin with. "She'll move in a- there we go." Mumbling something in her sleep, Bel yawned and stretched, her arm dropping off of Touko's waist to the floor and then curled up, head on the floor instead of on Touko's lap. After a few moments of delicate silence, the girl's deep breathing could be heard, once again completely sound asleep and off in whatever dreamland she was in.

The silence returned with Iris switching between studying Bel's sleeping face- she was gonna get a bug in her mouth if she kept sleeping with it open- and glancing over at the taller girl staring out the window. "Where you goin'? It's late." She asked, a little too sharply and quickly checked to make sure that Bel hadn't woken up.

"To the vending machine, I want a soda." Touko replied, grabbing her purse and headed for the door. Stretching and leaping neatly off the pillow he'd been sleeping on, Purrloin followed her with a look back at Iris, as if telling the young trainer that he'd keep an eye on her.

Iris sighed as the door closed behind the taller girl, looking to Bel. "When I'm your guys' age, I hope I'm not  _that_  bad of a liar."


End file.
